Do I ship it?

Games › Flight › Flight + Shoot 'Em Up

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Shoot 'Em Up Flight game?

Flight + Shoot 'Em Up

Of 86 developers who shipped a Shoot 'Em Up Flight 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.. 106 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 46 developers shipped in the last year and 106 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 30% on the market, 106 announced, ×2.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Flight + Shoot 'Em Up
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 86
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $359 → $897 → $599 → $359 → $1.1k → $299 → $269 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Flight + Shoot 'Em Up: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 86
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $300 (exactly $300)
Top 25% $1.8k (exactly $1,797)
Top 5% $31k (exactly $30,869)
Developers, 2 yr 86
Released games 339
Announced 106
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 up 30% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, 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.

Flight
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Shoot 'Em Up
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
Flight, Shoot 'Em Up; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Shooter, Action, Arcade
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Retro
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 76% positive over 1,428 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $300, 1 in 4 over $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $30k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 43 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 106 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair9 devs · median $2.4k · 11 announced
  2. + Hidden ObjectFair9 devs · median $1.3k · 10 announced
  3. + Quick-Time EventsFair9 devs · median $657 · 9 announced
  4. + CatsFair6 devs · median $629 · 10 announced
  5. + Life SimPoor odds12 devs · median $70k · 29 announced
  6. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  7. + MiningPoor odds10 devs · median $35k · 13 announced
  8. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $19k · 57 announced
  9. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $17k · 48 announced
  10. + EconomyPoor odds20 devs · median $15k · 45 announced
  11. + RTSPoor odds14 devs · median $15k · 18 announced
  12. + Cold WarPoor odds10 devs · median $11k · 16 announced

All 132 pairs on the Flight page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

LUFTRAUSERS 2014 · $1.0M Sky Force Reloaded 2017 · $805k Jet Lancer 2020 · $521k CYGNI: All Guns Blazing 2024 · $403k Mirage Feathers 2024 · $384k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
LUFTRAUSERS older $9.99 3,398 91% 102k $1.0M (exactly $1,018,381) Vlambeer
Sky Force Reloaded older $9.99 2,687 92% 81k $805k (exactly $805,294) Infinite Dreams
Jet Lancer older $14.99 1,158 92% 35k $521k (exactly $520,753) Code Wakers
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing older $29.99 448 60% 13k $403k (exactly $403,066) KeelWorks
Mirage Feathers older $4.99 2,566 98% 77k $384k (exactly $384,130) oyasumi Workshop
Project Gunship · EA older $14.99 836 75% 25k $376k (exactly $375,949) Sklorite Studios LLC
Ex-Zodiac · EA older $11.99 958 93% 29k $345k (exactly $344,593) MNKY
Whisker Squadron: Survivor $19.99 485 77% 15k $291k (exactly $290,854) Flippfly LLC
Disassembly 3D older $29.99 309 81% 9.3k $278k (exactly $278,007) Khor Chin Heong
Disassembly VR older $29.99 157 59% 4.7k $141k (exactly $141,253) Khor Chin Heong
Wild Blue Skies $14.99 251 58% 7.5k $113k (exactly $112,875) Chuhai Labs, VITEI BACKROOM Inc.
TOP DOG $9.99 263 88% 7.9k $79k (exactly $78,821) MorfeoDev
Raiden NOVA | 雷電NOVA | 雷電新星 $29.99 66 72% 2.0k $59k (exactly $59,380) MOSS Co., Ltd.
東方资志疏 ~ Immortal Immanuel. (东方资志疏) $9.99 103 94% 3.1k $31k (exactly $30,869) 雾雨威Channel, 沙包聚集地制作组
FUR Squadron Phoenix $19.99 32 78% 960 $19k (exactly $19,190) Raptor Claw
Sexy Iron Maidens $4.99 123 69% 3.7k $18k (exactly $18,413) Earl Marx
Apidya' Special $19.99 30 93% 900 $18k (exactly $17,991) Team Apidya
无梦少女 DreamlessGirl $9.99 49 65% 1.5k $15k (exactly $14,685) REZEROR STUDIO
Syder Reloaded $11.99 26 88% 780 $9.4k (exactly $9,352) Studio Evil

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