Games › Looter Shooter › Looter Shooter + Exploration
Should I ship an Exploration Looter Shooter?
Looter Shooter + Exploration
Of 81 developers who shipped an Exploration Looter 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.. 185 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×1.2 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $250k, ×170 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 185 games are announced against 50 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) |
| Top 25% | $31k (exactly $31,050) |
| Top 5% | $255k (exactly $255,027) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 81 |
| Released games | 197 |
| Announced | 185 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 35% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Looter Shooter
- effort 8 / 10 · low · online co-op and a loot economy on top of a shooter
- Exploration
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Looter Shooter, Exploration; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Adventure
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 114,404 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 33 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 185 games are announced against 50 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Looter Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + MechsFair
- + Vehicular CombatFair
- + IdlerFair
- + 3D PlatformerLong shot
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Twin Stick ShooterPoor odds
- + DystopianPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Character CustomizationPoor odds
- + Inventory ManagementPoor odds
Comparable games
Deep Rock Galactic 2020 · $273M 
Escape From Duckov 2025 · $45M 
EVERSPACE™ 2 2023 · $18M 
ZERO Sievert 2024 · $8.6M 
Ghosts of Tabor 2023 · EA · $6.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Deep Rock Galactic | older | $29.99 | 303,142 97% | 9.1M | $273M (exactly $272,736,857) | Ghost Ship Games |
| | Escape From Duckov | $17.99 | 83,826 85% | 2.5M | $45M (exactly $45,240,892) | Team Soda | |
| | EVERSPACE™ 2 | older | $49.99 | 12,040 85% | 361k | $18M (exactly $18,056,388) | ROCKFISH Games |
| | ZERO Sievert | $19.99 | 14,378 84% | 431k | $8.6M (exactly $8,622,487) | CABO Studio | |
| | Ghosts of Tabor | · EA older | $24.99 | 9,140 70% | 274k | $6.9M (exactly $6,852,258) | Combat Waffle Studios |
 | Jump Space | · EA | $19.99 | 10,724 85% | 322k | $6.4M (exactly $6,431,183) | Keepsake Games |
 | SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada | $39.99 | 3,303 40% | 99k | $4.0M (exactly $3,962,609) | Game Studio Inc. | |
 | Starpoint Gemini 3 | older | $29.99 | 759 49% | 23k | $683k (exactly $682,872) | Little Green Men Games |
 | The Brew Barons | older | $21.99 | 828 75% | 25k | $546k (exactly $546,232) | Lifetap Studios |
 | 我在地球修仙有系统 | older | $14.99 | 959 70% | 29k | $431k (exactly $431,262) | 红星 |
 | Heat Death: Survival Train | · EA | $11.99 | 709 77% | 21k | $255k (exactly $255,027) | Mass Game Devs |
 | LIFE EFFECT Survival | · EA | $14.99 | 488 85% | 15k | $219k (exactly $219,454) | LIFE EFFECT |
 | Tankenstein | · EA | $17.99 | 238 89% | 7.1k | $128k (exactly $128,449) | Landship Games LTD |
 | Keep Her Safe | · EA | $9.99 | 382 97% | 11k | $114k (exactly $114,485) | Gugu Studio |
 | Blood Running | $16.99 | 198 68% | 5.9k | $101k (exactly $100,921) | Dead Unicorn | |
 | Fracture Point | $19.99 | 158 81% | 4.7k | $95k (exactly $94,753) | Kyrylo Burlaka |
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.