Games › Hero Shooter › Hero Shooter + Puzzle
Should I ship a Puzzle Hero Shooter?
Hero Shooter + Puzzle
Only 16 developers shipped a Puzzle Hero Shooter in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Kvark, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 9 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $1.3k for a 9 / 10 build. 7 developers shipped in the last year and 17 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $360 (exactly $360) |
| Top 25% | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) |
| Top 5% | $276k (exactly $276,462) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 17 |
| Effort | 9 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 down 70% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Hero Shooter
- effort 9 / 10 · low · competitive netcode plus hero balance and content cadence
- Puzzle
- effort 2 / 10 · high · discrete rules, levels are data
What it takes
- Effort
- 9 / 10 · studio only
- Systems
- Hero Shooter, Puzzle; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 536 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 17 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Hero Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SimulationLong shot
- + Bullet HellLong shot
- + Boomer ShooterLong shot
- + MedievalLong shot
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + SuperheroPoor odds
- + Battle RoyalePoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + PvPPoor odds
- + PlatformerPoor odds
- + Character CustomizationPoor odds
- + PhysicsPoor odds
Comparable games
SUPERHOT VR 2017 · $6.0M 
Kvark 2024 · $276k 
Fossilfuel 2021 · $69k 
Cosmos Bit 2022 · $15k 
Random Heroes: Gold Edition 2020 · $13k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SUPERHOT VR | older | $24.99 | 7,978 82% | 239k | $6.0M (exactly $5,981,107) | SUPERHOT Team |
| | Kvark | $19.99 | 461 86% | 14k | $276k (exactly $276,462) | Latest Past, Perun Creative | |
| | Fossilfuel | older | $14.99 | 153 70% | 4.6k | $69k (exactly $68,804) | DangerousBob Studio LLC |
| | Cosmos Bit | older | $4.99 | 97 86% | 2.9k | $15k (exactly $14,521) | SEEP |
| | Random Heroes: Gold Edition | older | $4.99 | 86 69% | 2.6k | $13k (exactly $12,874) | Woblyware, Somepx |
 | The Mythical City | older | $9.99 | 38 60% | 1.1k | $11k (exactly $11,389) | Gamesforgames |
 | Westwood Shadows | $11.99 | 31 67% | 930 | $11k (exactly $11,151) | RedSoup Studio | |
 | Take No Prisoners | older | $9.99 | 34 79% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | Raven Software |
 | IHAS | $9.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | The Difference Studios | |
 | Ultrazone | older | $9.99 | 13 76% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | Gamesforgames |
 | Arachnoid | $4.99 | 12 33% | 360 | $1.8k (exactly $1,796) | Horrid Vision LLC | |
 | Monstergasm | $4.99 | 7 57% | 210 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | Red Sasori | |
 | Remnants Of Eden | $14.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $450 (exactly $450) | Red Sunset Productions | |
 | Gun Predict | $4.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $449 (exactly $449) | Gabry Corti | |
 | Death Row Escape | $2.00 | 6 100% | 180 | $360 (exactly $360) | SE Games Studio | |
 | Math4TopDogs | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Mathsandcau | |
 | Data Drift: Cyberpunk Shooter Top Down indie action | $2.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $90 (exactly $90) | Napoterulle |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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