Do I ship it?

Games › Shooter › Shooter + Idler

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Idler Shooter?

Shooter + Idler

Of 70 developers who shipped an Idler 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.. 59 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $840, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $270. Revenue is up 235% on the market; 59 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 235% on the market, 59 announced, ×1.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Shooter + Idler
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 70
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.2k → $239 → $298 → $836 → $836 → $1.9k → $449 (still earning) → $2.8k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Shooter + Idler: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 70
Bottom 30% $269 (exactly $269)
Median $836 (exactly $836)
Top 25% $11k (exactly $11,372)
Top 5% $91k (exactly $91,108)
Developers, 2 yr 70
Released games 141
Announced 59
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $3.99

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 235% on the market, supply 110% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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
Idler
effort 1 / 10 · high · number growth curves and a UI

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, Idler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Incremental, Arcade, Simulation
Price point
$3.99 typical · top 25% priced $5.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $5.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 5,301 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $270, median $840, 1 in 4 over $11k, 1 in 20 over $91k.

3 in 10 developers made under $270. 8 in 10 of the 23 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 59 games are announced against 48 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Shooter with a different second tag, 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. + Match 3Fair15 devs · median $719 · 5 announced
  6. + SnowFair22 devs · median $570 · 23 announced
  7. + Boss RushFair16 devs · median $537 · 20 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair85 devs · median $479 · 88 announced
  9. + ArcadeLong shot1,151 devs · median $419 · 1,332 announced
  10. + Score AttackLong shot372 devs · median $300 · 352 announced
  11. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds25 devs · median $139k · 45 announced
  12. + Character Action GamePoor odds14 devs · median $84k · 47 announced

All 229 pairs on the Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Outhold 2025 · $381k Haydee 3 2025 · $289k Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite 2025 · $125k Dead District: Survival 2023 · $124k Max Manos 2025 · $91k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Outhold $6.99 1,818 86% 55k $381k (exactly $381,235) Tellus Games
Haydee 3 $29.99 321 84% 9.6k $289k (exactly $288,804) Haydee Interactive
Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite $5.99 698 83% 21k $125k (exactly $125,431) RyanJakob
Dead District: Survival older $9.99 415 48% 12k $124k (exactly $124,376) BadBit Games
Max Manos $5.99 507 92% 15k $91k (exactly $91,108) Max Manos
KUNKUN Defender older $2.99 822 97% 25k $74k (exactly $73,733) Seal
Rabbit Hole older $7.99 264 78% 7.9k $63k (exactly $63,281) Nikita Ustinov, Nikolay Lazarev
CYBRID · EA older $14.99 139 89% 4.2k $63k (exactly $62,508) Tom Reason
最后的仙门 The last Practice Sect older $3.99 504 53% 15k $60k (exactly $60,329) 栖鸾工作室
Antivirus PROTOCOL $4.99 313 87% 9.4k $47k (exactly $46,856) FIREHIVE Studio
Idle Gumball Machine $4.99 255 90% 7.7k $38k (exactly $38,174) Antique Gear Games
Thunder Tank: Iron Shield $3.99 221 82% 6.6k $26k (exactly $26,454) Crazy Studio
Deep Space Cache $0.99 884 90% 27k $26k (exactly $26,255) Monu
Max Manos 2 $5.99 143 71% 4.3k $26k (exactly $25,697) Max Manos
Erotic Clicker $5.99 141 71% 4.2k $25k (exactly $25,338) Ero Echo Studio

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