Games › Shooter › Shooter + Dark Fantasy
Should I ship a Dark-Fantasy Shooter?
Shooter + Dark Fantasy
Of 156 developers who shipped a Dark-Fantasy 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.. 307 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $840, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $710k, ×1132 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 307 games are announced against 84 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $838 (exactly $838) |
| Top 25% | $7.5k (exactly $7,541) |
| Top 5% | $711k (exactly $710,813) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 156 |
| Released games | 430 |
| Announced | 307 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Shooter
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Dark Fantasy
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Shooter; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, FPS, Action Roguelike
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 66,809 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 8 in 10 of the 82 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 307 games are announced against 84 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Shooter with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + VampiresFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + SnowFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + ArcadeLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
Comparable games
Remnant: From the Ashes 2019 · $57M 
DOOM: The Dark Ages 2025 · $48M 
Witchfire 2024 · EA · $21M 
Metal: Hellsinger 2022 · $13M 
Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition 2022 · $5.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Remnant: From the Ashes | older | $39.99 | 47,193 84% | 1.4M | $57M (exactly $56,617,442) | Gunfire Games |
| | DOOM: The Dark Ages | $49.99 | 32,209 88% | 966k | $48M (exactly $48,303,837) | id Software | |
| | Witchfire | · EA | $39.99 | 17,131 91% | 514k | $21M (exactly $20,552,061) | The Astronauts |
| | Metal: Hellsinger | older | $29.99 | 13,989 96% | 420k | $13M (exactly $12,585,903) | The Outsiders |
| | Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition | older | $39.99 | 4,820 69% | 145k | $5.8M (exactly $5,782,554) | Flying Wild Hog |
 | Hatred | older | $5.99 | 25,770 84% | 773k | $4.6M (exactly $4,630,869) | Destructive Creations |
 | AMID EVIL | older | $19.99 | 6,654 93% | 200k | $4.0M (exactly $3,990,404) | Indefatigable |
 | Forgive Me Father | older | $19.99 | 3,705 84% | 111k | $2.2M (exactly $2,221,888) | Byte Barrel |
 | Beyond Citadel | $14.99 | 4,417 96% | 133k | $2.0M (exactly $1,986,325) | doekuramori | |
 | Project Warlock | older | $12.00 | 4,691 87% | 141k | $1.7M (exactly $1,688,760) | Buckshot Software |
 | Mohrta | $19.99 | 1,482 91% | 44k | $889k (exactly $888,755) | Scumhead, Osiol | |
 | KILL KNIGHT | $14.99 | 1,804 93% | 54k | $811k (exactly $811,259) | PlaySide | |
 | Heretic + Hexen | $14.99 | 1,789 95% | 54k | $805k (exactly $804,513) | id Software, Nightdive Studios | |
 | Metal Garden | $5.99 | 4,375 96% | 131k | $786k (exactly $786,188) | Tinerasoft | |
 | Bloodshed | $12.99 | 1,824 84% | 55k | $711k (exactly $710,813) | com8com1 Software | |
 | Shady Knight | $19.99 | 898 93% | 27k | $539k (exactly $538,531) | Alexey 'cptnsigh' | |
 | Wizordum | $19.99 | 880 91% | 26k | $528k (exactly $527,736) | Emberheart Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.