Do I ship it?

Games › Destruction › Destruction + Tower Defense

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Tower Defense Destruction game?

Destruction + Tower Defense

Of 29 developers who shipped a Tower Defense Destruction 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.. 44 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50; 1 in 20 cleared $63k, ×101 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 44 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 44 announced, ×2.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Destruction + Tower Defense
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 29
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $449 → $597 → $210 → $1.5k → $2.4k (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Destruction + Tower Defense: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 29
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $716 (exactly $716)
Top 25% $2.6k (exactly $2,637)
Top 5% $64k (exactly $63,712)
Developers, 2 yr 29
Released games 73
Announced 44
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 up 35% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, 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.

Destruction
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Tower Defense
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
Destruction, Tower Defense; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Physics, Strategy
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful, Funny
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 83% positive over 772 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $720, 1 in 4 over $2.6k, 1 in 20 over $63k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 44 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Space SimFair14 devs · median $3.7k · 22 announced
  2. + ModernFair26 devs · median $1.6k · 28 announced
  3. + God GameFair19 devs · median $899 · 20 announced
  4. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $719 · 14 announced
  5. + Hack and SlashPoor odds19 devs · median $43k · 57 announced
  6. + HistoricalPoor odds15 devs · median $26k · 22 announced
  7. + CapitalismPoor odds17 devs · median $15k · 46 announced
  8. + Online Co-OpPoor odds37 devs · median $13k · 102 announced
  9. + Co-opPoor odds50 devs · median $11k · 113 announced
  10. + Automobile SimPoor odds22 devs · median $9.0k · 44 announced
  11. + ManagementPoor odds36 devs · median $6.1k · 129 announced
  12. + AutomationPoor odds22 devs · median $6.0k · 46 announced

All 139 pairs on the Destruction page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

X-Morph: Defense 2017 · $2.0M Taur 2020 · $1.5M Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder™ 2017 · $1.3M Rock of Ages 2011 · $1.0M Conan Unconquered 2019 · $721k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
X-Morph: Defense older $19.99 3,272 90% 98k $2.0M (exactly $1,962,218) EXOR Studios
Taur older $24.99 2,011 79% 60k $1.5M (exactly $1,507,647) Echo Entertainment
Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder™ older $14.99 2,792 90% 84k $1.3M (exactly $1,255,562) ACE Team
Rock of Ages older $9.99 3,364 92% 101k $1.0M (exactly $1,008,191) ACE Team
Conan Unconquered older $19.99 1,203 70% 36k $721k (exactly $721,439) Petroglyph
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break older $14.99 1,259 78% 38k $566k (exactly $566,172) ACE Team, Giant Monkey Robot
CastleStorm older $9.99 1,262 89% 38k $378k (exactly $378,221) Zen Studios
Octogeddon older $8.88 1,298 92% 39k $346k (exactly $345,787) All Yes Good
Beach Invasion 1944 older $9.99 1,038 84% 31k $311k (exactly $311,089) AIx2 Games
Castle Craft $19.99 480 82% 14k $288k (exactly $287,856) Twin Earth
Pull Stay $16.99 125 97% 3.8k $64k (exactly $63,712) Nito Souji
Bandit Trap $14.99 28 92% 840 $13k (exactly $12,592) PICOMY
Lichgate: Tower Survivor $6.99 57 75% 1.7k $12k (exactly $11,953) Sun Lion Games
Robin Hood: Sherwood Defenders $11.99 25 44% 750 $9.0k (exactly $8,992) MeanAstronauts
Bumper Blitz TD $14.99 15 86% 450 $6.7k (exactly $6,746) Ragnarok Studios
Falling Stars... and other celestial objects $12.99 7 100% 210 $2.7k (exactly $2,728) From The Moon
Endzone Girls $7.99 11 90% 330 $2.6k (exactly $2,637) Aozora
Apocalypse Factory · EA $9.99 8 50% 240 $2.4k (exactly $2,398) Mind Leak
Wood'N'Destroy $3.99 16 93% 480 $1.9k (exactly $1,915) Abyssal Interactive

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