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Should I ship a Twin Stick Shooter Hack and Slash game?
Hack and Slash + Twin Stick Shooter
Of 60 developers who shipped a Twin Stick Shooter Hack and Slash 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.. 77 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.6k, ×4.2 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $840; 1 in 20 cleared $960k, ×1543 the market median. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 77 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $839 (exactly $839) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.6k (exactly $2,637) |
| Top 25% | $8.1k (exactly $8,092) |
| Top 5% | $969k (exactly $969,184) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 60 |
| Released games | 149 |
| Announced | 77 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.00 |
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 15% 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.
- Hack and Slash
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Twin Stick Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Hack and Slash, Twin Stick Shooter; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $7.00 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.00.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 36,818 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $840. 7 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 77 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Hack and Slash with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Turn-BasedStrong odds
- + Turn-Based CombatStrong odds
- + VampiresFair
- + ModernFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + RomancePoor odds
- + Visual NovelPoor odds
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + DestructionPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition 2015 · $15M 
Bastion 2011 · $13M 
Soulstone Survivors 2025 · $12M 
Darksiders Genesis 2019 · $9.3M 
RUINER 2017 · $6.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition | older | $19.99 | 25,663 90% | 770k | $15M (exactly $15,390,101) | Arrowhead Game Studios |
| | Bastion | older | $14.99 | 28,223 95% | 847k | $13M (exactly $12,691,883) | Supergiant Games |
| | Soulstone Survivors | $14.99 | 25,749 91% | 772k | $12M (exactly $11,579,325) | Game Smithing Limited | |
| | Darksiders Genesis | older | $29.99 | 10,379 82% | 311k | $9.3M (exactly $9,337,986) | Airship Syndicate |
| | RUINER | older | $19.99 | 10,338 89% | 310k | $6.2M (exactly $6,199,699) | Reikon Games |
 | Killsquad | older | $29.99 | 2,839 71% | 85k | $2.6M (exactly $2,554,248) | Novarama |
 | Hell Clock | $19.99 | 3,535 82% | 106k | $2.1M (exactly $2,119,940) | Rogue Snail | |
 | ANVIL | older | $24.99 | 1,900 61% | 57k | $1.4M (exactly $1,424,430) | ACTION SQUARE |
 | 永远消失的幻想乡 ～ The Disappearing of Gensokyo | older | $10.99 | 3,023 83% | 91k | $997k (exactly $996,683) | MyACG Studio |
 | Temtem: Swarm | $12.99 | 2,487 77% | 75k | $969k (exactly $969,184) | Crema, GGTech Studios | |
 | KILL KNIGHT | $14.99 | 1,804 93% | 54k | $811k (exactly $811,259) | PlaySide | |
 | NIMRODS | · EA | $9.99 | 1,783 85% | 53k | $534k (exactly $534,365) | Fiveamp |
 | Entropy Survivors | $9.99 | 487 80% | 15k | $146k (exactly $145,954) | Moving Pieces Interactive | |
 | Time Treker | $6.99 | 399 65% | 12k | $84k (exactly $83,670) | Fuse Game | |
 | 9th Sentinel Sisters | $7.99 | 273 69% | 8.2k | $65k (exactly $65,438) | Live Wire | |
 | Donuts for Deer Teeth | $6.99 | 192 98% | 5.8k | $40k (exactly $40,262) | posmnaut, Hefty Totem, BirdLovely, Mizu… (posmnaut, Hefty Totem, BirdLovely, MizuBlackRiver, Prahno Audio) | |
 | Kritter: Defend Together | $9.99 | 109 86% | 3.3k | $33k (exactly $32,667) | LJF Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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