Do I ship it?

Games › Tactical › Tactical + Bullet Hell

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Bullet Hell Tactical game?

Tactical + Bullet Hell

Of 96 developers who shipped a Bullet Hell Tactical game 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.. 112 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $420 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 56 developers shipped in the last year and 112 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 50% on the market, 112 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Tactical + Bullet Hell
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 96
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $269 → $239 → $1.1k → $359 → $539 → $899 → $240 (still earning) → $240 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Tactical + Bullet Hell: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 96
Bottom 30% $119 (exactly $119)
Median $299 (exactly $299)
Top 25% $2.2k (exactly $2,156)
Top 5% $73k (exactly $73,485)
Developers, 2 yr 96
Released games 217
Announced 112
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 down 50% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Tactical
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Bullet Hell
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Tactical, Bullet Hell; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Strategy, Roguelite
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 1,939 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $300, 1 in 4 over $2.1k, 1 in 20 over $73k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 45 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 112 games are announced against 56 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Tactical with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Football (American)Strong odds12 devs · median $5.8k · 8 announced
  2. + Mystery DungeonStrong odds20 devs · median $2.5k · 15 announced
  3. + Dating SimFair13 devs · median $11k · 9 announced
  4. + 6DOFFair14 devs · median $2.4k · 19 announced
  5. + Word GameFair23 devs · median $1.8k · 12 announced
  6. + TypingFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 9 announced
  7. + DwarvesFair7 devs · median $1.0k · 10 announced
  8. + Traditional RoguelikeFair38 devs · median $987 · 57 announced
  9. + Dynamic NarrationFair13 devs · median $899 · 16 announced
  10. + Farming SimFair12 devs · median $897 · 10 announced
  11. + SolitaireFair25 devs · median $479 · 22 announced
  12. + LGBTQ+Fair20 devs · median $479 · 21 announced

All 226 pairs on the Tactical page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising 2018 · $6.1M Heretic's Fork 2023 · $928k Beat Hazard 3 2024 · $351k Utopia Must Fall 2024 · EA · $339k Necrosmith 2 2024 · $315k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising older $19.99 10,111 94% 303k $6.1M (exactly $6,063,567) Flow Fire Games
Heretic's Fork older $9.99 3,097 85% 93k $928k (exactly $928,171) 9FingerGames
Beat Hazard 3 older $19.99 586 84% 18k $351k (exactly $351,424) Cold Beam Games
Utopia Must Fall · EA older $8.99 1,258 95% 38k $339k (exactly $339,283) Pixeljam
Necrosmith 2 older $7.99 1,315 77% 39k $315k (exactly $315,206) Alawar
The Last Federation older $19.99 380 72% 11k $228k (exactly $227,886) Arcen Games
Seer's Gambit $14.99 490 76% 15k $220k (exactly $220,353) Unleash The Giraffe
Mechs V Kaijus - Tower Defense older $12.99 511 83% 15k $199k (exactly $199,137) Doble Punch Games
Pebble Knights · EA $9.99 479 76% 14k $144k (exactly $143,556) 51% Games
Swordship older $19.99 209 85% 6.3k $125k (exactly $125,337) Digital Kingdom
Godslayer Arena · EA $14.99 257 76% 7.7k $116k (exactly $115,573) Hippo Rider Games
Maze Mice $9.99 315 88% 9.5k $94k (exactly $94,406) TrampolineTales
Touhou Spell Carnival $49.99 49 77% 1.5k $73k (exactly $73,485) Idea Factory, Compile Heart, STING
Defensurvivor $10.99 106 71% 3.2k $35k (exactly $34,948) SignatureGamez
Operation Octo $6.99 107 98% 3.2k $22k (exactly $22,438) Klub Kofta Studio
Moon Watch · EA $9.99 56 57% 1.7k $17k (exactly $16,783) Jaspel
UNSIGHT $7.99 42 50% 1.3k $10k (exactly $10,067) C51 Games
Keytamine $7.99 38 81% 1.1k $9.1k (exactly $9,109) Nabokov

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.