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Should I ship an Online Co-Op Bullet Hell?
Online Co-Op + Bullet Hell
Of 97 developers who shipped an Online Co-Op Bullet Hell in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 141 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×1.2 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $960k, ×647 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 141 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $40k (exactly $39,521) |
| Top 5% | $969k (exactly $969,184) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 97 |
| Released games | 200 |
| Announced | 141 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue down 50% on the market, supply 105% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Online Co-Op
- effort 8 / 10 · low · netcode, lobbies and state sync across machines
- Bullet Hell
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Online Co-Op, Bullet Hell; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelite, Action, Action Roguelike
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Funny
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 40,503 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 7 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 141 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Online Co-Op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Bullet HeavenStrong odds
- + Escape RoomFair
- + TypingFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
Comparable games
Risk of Rain 2 2020 · $180M 
Just Shapes & Beats 2018 · $14M 
Roboquest 2023 · $14M 
Returnal™ 2023 · $12M 
Deadzone: Rogue 2025 · $11M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Risk of Rain 2 | older | $24.99 | 240,001 93% | 7.2M | $180M (exactly $179,928,750) | Hopoo Games |
| | Just Shapes & Beats | older | $19.99 | 24,041 97% | 721k | $14M (exactly $14,417,388) | Berzerk Studio |
| | Roboquest | older | $24.99 | 19,158 95% | 575k | $14M (exactly $14,362,753) | RyseUp Studios |
| | Returnal™ | older | $59.99 | 6,602 79% | 198k | $12M (exactly $11,881,619) | Housemarque, Climax Studios |
| | Deadzone: Rogue | $24.99 | 15,041 82% | 451k | $11M (exactly $11,276,238) | Prophecy Games | |
 | SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising | older | $19.99 | 10,111 94% | 303k | $6.1M (exactly $6,063,567) | Flow Fire Games |
 | The Spell Brigade | $12.99 | 14,731 80% | 442k | $5.7M (exactly $5,740,671) | Bolt Blaster Games | |
 | Heroes of Hammerwatch | older | $14.99 | 7,519 87% | 226k | $3.4M (exactly $3,381,294) | Crackshell |
 | Killsquad | older | $29.99 | 2,839 71% | 85k | $2.6M (exactly $2,554,248) | Novarama |
 | ANVIL | older | $24.99 | 1,900 61% | 57k | $1.4M (exactly $1,424,430) | ACTION SQUARE |
 | Gatekeeper | $14.99 | 2,706 82% | 81k | $1.2M (exactly $1,216,888) | Gravity Lagoon | |
 | Neon Abyss 2 | · EA | $19.99 | 1,968 68% | 59k | $1.2M (exactly $1,180,210) | Veewo Games |
 | Temtem: Swarm | $12.99 | 2,487 77% | 75k | $969k (exactly $969,184) | Crema, GGTech Studios | |
 | Sineus Arena Survivors | $10.99 | 1,150 77% | 35k | $379k (exactly $379,155) | Sineus Games | |
 | RIFTSTORM | · EA | $14.99 | 659 70% | 20k | $296k (exactly $296,352) | Confiction Labs, Agate |
 | Atomic Picnic | · EA | $19.99 | 442 70% | 13k | $265k (exactly $265,067) | BitCake Studio |
 | Soulbound: Online | · EA | $14.99 | 562 58% | 17k | $253k (exactly $252,731) | SpiderWare |
 | Bang Bang Barrage | $7.99 | 757 95% | 23k | $181k (exactly $181,453) | Monkey Bread |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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