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Should I ship a PvE Bullet Hell?
PvE + Bullet Hell
Of 565 developers who shipped a PvE 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.. 763 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $480 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 345 developers shipped in the last year and 763 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $3.2k (exactly $3,224) |
| Top 5% | $94k (exactly $94,406) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 565 |
| Released games | 1,127 |
| Announced | 763 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 up 10% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- PvE
- effort 6 / 10 · low · online co-op against AI still needs the whole netcode stack
- Bullet Hell
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE, Bullet Hell; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Roguelite
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 81,414 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 259 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 763 games are announced against 345 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvE with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + IdlerFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + TypingFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + HeistPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + NavalPoor odds
- + SpaceshipsPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
Comparable games
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor 2025 · $18M 
Deadzone: Rogue 2025 · $11M 
Crab Champions 2023 · EA · $8.0M 
Rabbit and Steel 2024 · $4.6M 
Rogue: Genesia 2025 · $3.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | $12.99 | 46,354 86% | 1.4M | $18M (exactly $18,064,154) | Funday Games | |
| | Deadzone: Rogue | $24.99 | 15,041 82% | 451k | $11M (exactly $11,276,238) | Prophecy Games | |
| | Crab Champions | · EA older | $9.99 | 26,546 97% | 796k | $8.0M (exactly $7,955,836) | Noisestorm |
| | Rabbit and Steel | older | $14.99 | 10,159 96% | 305k | $4.6M (exactly $4,568,502) | mino_dev |
| | Rogue: Genesia | $14.99 | 8,111 90% | 243k | $3.6M (exactly $3,647,517) | Ouadi Huard | |
 | Atomicrops | older | $14.99 | 5,134 93% | 154k | $2.3M (exactly $2,308,760) | Bird Bath Games |
 | Gatekeeper | $14.99 | 2,706 82% | 81k | $1.2M (exactly $1,216,888) | Gravity Lagoon | |
 | Glyphica: Typing Survival | · EA | $9.99 | 2,488 90% | 75k | $746k (exactly $745,654) | aliasBLACK |
 | TerraTech Legion | $9.99 | 2,109 81% | 63k | $632k (exactly $632,067) | Payload Studios | |
 | Portal Dungeon | older | $14.99 | 995 88% | 30k | $447k (exactly $447,452) | Dusk Dog Studio |
 | ODDCORE | · EA | $12.99 | 1,080 96% | 32k | $421k (exactly $420,876) | ODDCORP |
 | Funguys Swarm | $9.99 | 1,114 89% | 33k | $334k (exactly $333,866) | Stairway Games | |
 | Vital Shell | $5.99 | 1,752 96% | 53k | $315k (exactly $314,834) | MarvinWizard | |
 | RIFTSTORM | · EA | $14.99 | 659 70% | 20k | $296k (exactly $296,352) | Confiction Labs, Agate |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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