Do I ship it?

Games › Shooter › Shooter + Hacking

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Hacking Shooter?

Shooter + Hacking

Of 26 developers who shipped a Hacking 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.. 58 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $560k, ×892 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 58 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.0 times the market baseline, revenue down 90% on the market, 58 announced, ×3.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Shooter + Hacking
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 26
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $18k → $60k → $59 → $5.5k → $24k → $150 → $300 (still earning) → $75k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Shooter + Hacking: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 26
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $628 (exactly $628)
Top 25% $41k (exactly $41,372)
Top 5% $560k (exactly $560,260)
Developers, 2 yr 26
Released games 71
Announced 58
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 down 90% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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.

Shooter
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Hacking
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
Shooter; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, FPS, Exploration
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $21.64 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $21.64 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 6,296 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $630, 1 in 4 over $41k, 1 in 20 over $560k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 6 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 58 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Dating SimFair23 devs · median $9.8k · 17 announced
  2. + CollectathonFair69 devs · median $1.4k · 64 announced
  3. + VampiresFair38 devs · median $1.3k · 41 announced
  4. + Walking SimulatorFair68 devs · median $1.2k · 62 announced
  5. + IdlerFair70 devs · median $836 · 59 announced
  6. + Match 3Fair15 devs · median $719 · 5 announced
  7. + SnowFair22 devs · median $570 · 23 announced
  8. + Boss RushFair16 devs · median $537 · 20 announced
  9. + IncrementalFair85 devs · median $479 · 88 announced
  10. + ArcadeLong shot1,151 devs · median $419 · 1,332 announced
  11. + Score AttackLong shot372 devs · median $300 · 352 announced
  12. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds25 devs · median $139k · 45 announced

All 229 pairs on the Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Watch_Dogs® 2 2016 · $143M Watch_Dogs™ 2014 · $30M Watch Dogs®: Legion 2023 · $21M Call of Duty®: Ghosts 2014 · $16M Peripeteia 2025 · EA · $2.3M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Watch_Dogs® 2 older $49.99 95,242 82% 2.9M $143M (exactly $142,834,427) Ubisoft
Watch_Dogs™ older $19.99 49,193 79% 1.5M $30M (exactly $29,501,042) Ubisoft
Watch Dogs®: Legion older $59.99 11,891 56% 357k $21M (exactly $21,400,233) Ubisoft Toronto
Call of Duty®: Ghosts older $39.99 12,976 66% 389k $16M (exactly $15,567,307) Infinity Ward
Peripeteia · EA $24.99 3,120 86% 94k $2.3M (exactly $2,339,064) Ninth Exodus
Deadlink older $24.99 2,871 90% 86k $2.2M (exactly $2,152,389) Gruby Entertainment
E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy older $9.99 6,303 84% 189k $1.9M (exactly $1,889,009) Streum On Studio
SPRAWL older $14.99 1,961 87% 59k $882k (exactly $881,862) MAETH
Agent 64: Spies Never Die $21.64 863 86% 26k $560k (exactly $560,260) Replicant D6
USAC: Code Breach older $14.99 1,067 91% 32k $480k (exactly $479,830) Questions Factory
Cheaters Cheetah $9.99 1,406 59% 42k $421k (exactly $421,378) Acmore Games
Glitchpunk $19.99 174 47% 5.2k $104k (exactly $104,348) Dark Lord
Unsafe Express $11.99 222 59% 6.7k $80k (exactly $79,853) OnSkull Games
PARKSIDE: DECAYED SOUL MANIPULATION $13.99 178 87% 5.3k $75k (exactly $74,707) Banana Hardsoft
Lia: Hacking Destiny $14.99 92 96% 2.8k $41k (exactly $41,372) Orube Game Studio
Antivirus Girl $7.99 169 88% 5.1k $41k (exactly $40,509) Chowbie
Within the Cosmos $14.99 53 43% 1.6k $24k (exactly $23,834) debdev
Project Chameleon $9.99 19 100% 570 $5.7k (exactly $5,694) Anonymous King

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