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Should I ship a Gun Customization Top-Down Shooter?
Gun Customization + Top-Down Shooter
Of 60 developers who shipped a Gun Customization Top-Down 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.. 149 more are announced, ×4.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×251 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 149 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,256) |
| Top 25% | $9.1k (exactly $9,114) |
| Top 5% | $158k (exactly $157,845) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 60 |
| Released games | 175 |
| Announced | 149 |
| 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 down 30% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Gun Customization, Top-Down Shooter; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 85,730 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 149 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Gun Customization with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + DystopianPoor odds
- + Immersive SimPoor odds
- + BuildingPoor odds
- + Survival HorrorPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + StealthPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + MechsPoor odds
- + Resource ManagementPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
Comparable games
Escape From Duckov 2025 · $45M 
20 Minutes Till Dawn 2023 · $4.2M 
Killsquad 2021 · $2.6M 
Intravenous 2 2024 · $2.4M 
SYNTHETIK 2 2021 · EA · $1.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Escape From Duckov | $17.99 | 83,826 85% | 2.5M | $45M (exactly $45,240,892) | Team Soda | |
| | 20 Minutes Till Dawn | older | $4.99 | 27,872 90% | 836k | $4.2M (exactly $4,172,438) | flanne |
| | Killsquad | older | $29.99 | 2,839 71% | 85k | $2.6M (exactly $2,554,248) | Novarama |
| | Intravenous 2 | older | $19.99 | 4,069 95% | 122k | $2.4M (exactly $2,440,179) | Explosive Squat Games |
| | SYNTHETIK 2 | · EA older | $19.99 | 3,202 81% | 96k | $1.9M (exactly $1,920,239) | Flow Fire Games |
 | Cavalry Girls | older | $11.99 | 1,877 88% | 56k | $675k (exactly $675,157) | 中子星游戏研究所 |
 | Wings of Seduction: Bust 'em out! | older | $12.99 | 904 93% | 27k | $352k (exactly $352,289) | Ramen Cat Studio |
 | Night Raider | older | $5.99 | 1,908 85% | 57k | $343k (exactly $342,868) | TSUKUYOMIC |
 | No Plan B | older | $14.99 | 761 86% | 23k | $342k (exactly $342,222) | GFX47 |
 | Maniac | older | $4.99 | 1,754 90% | 53k | $263k (exactly $262,574) | Transhuman Design |
 | Genome Guardian 2 | · EA | $15.99 | 410 95% | 12k | $197k (exactly $196,677) | Alpherior |
 | CyberCorp | $14.99 | 351 75% | 11k | $158k (exactly $157,845) | Megame LLC | |
 | Time Treker | $6.99 | 399 65% | 12k | $84k (exactly $83,670) | Fuse Game | |
 | Graveyard Gunslingers | $7.99 | 224 58% | 6.7k | $54k (exactly $53,693) | PyroPhysics | |
 | Schism | $11.99 | 140 96% | 4.2k | $50k (exactly $50,358) | Fami | |
 | Typing Break | $8.99 | 96 80% | 2.9k | $26k (exactly $25,891) | Tholus | |
 | Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad | $9.99 | 82 95% | 2.5k | $25k (exactly $24,575) | Fogo Games | |
 | Gunforged | $8.99 | 72 80% | 2.2k | $19k (exactly $19,418) | Firebelley | |
 | Ghosts Keep Out | $3.99 | 130 75% | 3.9k | $16k (exactly $15,561) | Only Fun Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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