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Should I ship a Co-op Twin Stick Shooter?
Co-op + Twin Stick Shooter
Of 60 developers who shipped a Co-op Twin Stick Shooter 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.. 92 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×1.2 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×387 the market median. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 92 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $19,712) |
| Top 5% | $580k (exactly $580,314) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 60 |
| Released games | 251 |
| Announced | 92 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 80% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Co-op
- effort 7 / 10 · low · co-op on Steam means online sessions and drop-in sync
- Twin Stick Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Co-op, Twin Stick Shooter; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Top-Down Shooter, Action Roguelike
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, Isometric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 10,726 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 92 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Co-op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SuperheroFair
- + Boomer ShooterFair
- + GamblingFair
- + NinjaFair
- + TypingLong shot
- + Word GameLong shot
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
Comparable games
Enter the Gungeon 2016 · $36M 
The Ascent 2021 · $17M 
HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition 2015 · $15M 
Darksiders Genesis 2019 · $9.3M 
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising 2018 · $6.1M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Enter the Gungeon | older | $14.99 | 79,392 95% | 2.4M | $36M (exactly $35,702,582) | Dodge Roll |
| | The Ascent | older | $29.99 | 19,235 74% | 577k | $17M (exactly $17,305,730) | Neon Giant |
| | HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition | older | $19.99 | 25,663 90% | 770k | $15M (exactly $15,390,101) | Arrowhead Game Studios |
| | Darksiders Genesis | older | $29.99 | 10,379 82% | 311k | $9.3M (exactly $9,337,986) | Airship Syndicate |
| | SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising | older | $19.99 | 10,111 94% | 303k | $6.1M (exactly $6,063,567) | Flow Fire Games |
 | Killsquad | older | $29.99 | 2,839 71% | 85k | $2.6M (exactly $2,554,248) | Novarama |
 | Nine Parchments | older | $19.99 | 4,123 77% | 124k | $2.5M (exactly $2,472,563) | Frozenbyte |
 | War Mongrels | older | $44.99 | 1,826 72% | 55k | $2.5M (exactly $2,464,552) | Destructive Creations |
 | X-Morph: Defense | older | $19.99 | 3,272 90% | 98k | $2.0M (exactly $1,962,218) | EXOR Studios |
 | POSTAL Redux | older | $8.99 | 6,745 92% | 202k | $1.8M (exactly $1,819,126) | Running With Scissors |
 | Greedland | $12.99 | 2,919 83% | 88k | $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534) | VaMP He | |
 | Temtem: Swarm | $12.99 | 2,487 77% | 75k | $969k (exactly $969,184) | Crema, GGTech Studios | |
 | Whisper Mountain Outbreak | · EA | $7.99 | 2,421 84% | 73k | $580k (exactly $580,314) | Toge Productions |
 | Section 13 | $19.99 | 770 70% | 23k | $462k (exactly $461,769) | Ocean Drive Studio, Inc. | |
 | RIFTSTORM | · EA | $14.99 | 659 70% | 20k | $296k (exactly $296,352) | Confiction Labs, Agate |
 | CyberCorp | $14.99 | 351 75% | 11k | $158k (exactly $157,845) | Megame LLC | |
 | Entropy Survivors | $9.99 | 487 80% | 15k | $146k (exactly $145,954) | Moving Pieces Interactive | |
 | Shape Shifter: Formations | $14.99 | 269 91% | 8.1k | $121k (exactly $120,969) | Castec Studios | |
 | The Horde Wants You Dead | $9.99 | 270 64% | 8.1k | $81k (exactly $80,919) | Bellyflop Games | |
 | Vortica | $14.99 | 93 83% | 2.8k | $42k (exactly $41,822) | Vortical Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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