Do I ship it?

GamesGun CustomizationGun Customization + Horror

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Horror Gun Customization game?

Gun Customization + Horror

Of 36 developers who shipped a Horror Gun Customization 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.. 84 more are announced, ×5.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $4.5k, ×7.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $1.4M, ×2336 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 84 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 7.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 84 announced, ×5.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Gun Customization + Horror
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 36
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $84k → $1.3k → $12k → $9.1k → $6.0k → $599 → $4.5k (still earning) → $61k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Gun Customization + Horror: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 36
Bottom 30% $300 (exactly $300)
Median $4.5k (exactly $4,496)
Top 25% $145k (exactly $144,829)
Top 5% $1.5M (exactly $1,466,866)
Developers, 2 yr 36
Released games 84
Announced 84
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 up 35% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 6%, 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.

Gun Customization
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Horror
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium 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
Gun Customization; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Survival Horror
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 1990's, Dark
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 69% positive over 29,078 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $4.5k, 1 in 4 over $140k, 1 in 20 over $1.4M.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 84 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Gun Customization with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Tower DefenseFair26 devs · median $958 · 32 announced
  2. + DystopianPoor odds16 devs · median $51k · 58 announced
  3. + Immersive SimPoor odds12 devs · median $25k · 44 announced
  4. + BuildingPoor odds13 devs · median $16k · 39 announced
  5. + Survival HorrorPoor odds26 devs · median $14k · 55 announced
  6. + ModernPoor odds18 devs · median $14k · 38 announced
  7. + MilitaryPoor odds50 devs · median $13k · 126 announced
  8. + StealthPoor odds20 devs · median $13k · 63 announced
  9. + Co-opPoor odds31 devs · median $11k · 92 announced
  10. + MechsPoor odds12 devs · median $11k · 32 announced
  11. + Resource ManagementPoor odds28 devs · median $11k · 71 announced
  12. + Base BuildingPoor odds23 devs · median $9.1k · 64 announced

All 93 pairs on the Gun Customization page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Ready or Not older $49.99 265,219 79% 8.0M $398M (exactly $397,748,934) VOID Interactive
World War Z older $29.99 24,897 82% 747k $22M (exactly $22,399,831) Saber Interactive Inc
The Forever Winter · EA $29.99 21,376 68% 641k $19M (exactly $19,231,987) Fun Dog Studios
SCP: 5K · EA older $19.99 12,334 80% 370k $7.4M (exactly $7,396,700) Affray Interactive
20 Minutes Till Dawn older $4.99 27,872 90% 836k $4.2M (exactly $4,172,438) flanne
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered older $24.99 2,069 90% 62k $1.6M (exactly $1,551,129) Saber Interactive
Level Zero: Extraction $19.99 2,446 50% 73k $1.5M (exactly $1,466,866) Doghowl Games
CONVRGENCE · EA older $24.99 1,562 88% 47k $1.2M (exactly $1,171,031) Monkey-With-a-Bomb
Death in the Water 2 older $14.99 1,734 83% 52k $780k (exactly $779,780) Lighthouse Games Studio
Echoes of the Living · EA $24.99 1,005 83% 30k $753k (exactly $753,448) MoonGlint Studio
Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone · EA $39.99 528 62% 16k $633k (exactly $633,442) The Farm 51
Iron Meat $19.99 982 96% 29k $589k (exactly $588,905) Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov, Retroware
Z.O.N.A: Origin $19.99 540 83% 16k $324k (exactly $323,838) AGaming+
Iron Blight $12.49 700 93% 21k $262k (exactly $262,290) Ronesans Interactive
C.A.S.T. (CHERNOZEM ANOMALY STRIKE TEAM) $6.99 777 87% 23k $163k (exactly $162,937) BRAIN DOES (NOT) WORK
SealChain: Call of Blood $8.99 537 56% 16k $145k (exactly $144,829) AliveGameStudio
Nightmare Frontier $24.99 187 69% 5.6k $140k (exactly $140,194) Ice Code Games

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