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Should I ship an Idler Top-Down Shooter?
Top-Down Shooter + Idler
Of 24 developers who shipped an Idler 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.. 30 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $750, ×1.6 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $120. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 30 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $748 (exactly $748) |
| Top 25% | $3.3k (exactly $3,319) |
| Top 5% | $47k (exactly $46,856) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 51 |
| Announced | 30 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 down 30% on the market, supply 145% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Idler
- effort 1 / 10 · high · number growth curves and a UI
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Top-Down Shooter, Idler; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Arcade, Action, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $4.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Minimalist, Pixel Graphics, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $4.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 26,121 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Top-Down Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + VampiresFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + World War IIFair
- + ArcheryFair
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + Tactical RPGPoor odds
- + Action RTSPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + DystopianPoor odds
- + Bullet HeavenPoor odds
Comparable games
BALL x PIT 2025 · $11M 
KUNKUN Defender 2024 · $74k 
最后的仙门 The last Practice Sect 2022 · $60k 
Antivirus PROTOCOL 2025 · $47k 
Vostok Inc. 2017 · $43k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BALL x PIT | $14.99 | 24,714 95% | 741k | $11M (exactly $11,113,886) | Kenny Sun and Friends | |
| | KUNKUN Defender | older | $2.99 | 822 97% | 25k | $74k (exactly $73,733) | Seal |
| | 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 | |
| | Vostok Inc. | older | $14.99 | 96 60% | 2.9k | $43k (exactly $43,171) | Nosebleed Interactive |
 | Dead Unending | older | $9.99 | 108 41% | 3.2k | $32k (exactly $32,368) | Tyler Hudson |
 | Deep Space Cache | $0.99 | 884 90% | 27k | $26k (exactly $26,255) | Monu | |
 | USA 2020 | older | $1.89 | 244 78% | 7.3k | $14k (exactly $13,835) | GAMES FOR HUMANS |
 | Lost Scale: Part One | older | $24.99 | 10 90% | 300 | $7.5k (exactly $7,497) | Danicy |
 | Shoot The Barrels | $1.99 | 103 72% | 3.1k | $6.1k (exactly $6,149) | BATTLE LAB | |
 | NUMANUIN | $4.99 | 25 92% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | Siberian Mouse | |
 | Astro Nova | $2.99 | 37 81% | 1.1k | $3.3k (exactly $3,319) | NovaScreen | |
 | Operation: Outbreak Idle | $4.99 | 19 89% | 570 | $2.8k (exactly $2,844) | DeadLogics | |
 | Bit Breaker | $3.99 | 16 75% | 480 | $1.9k (exactly $1,915) | Hurricane Games | |
 | Solitary Sentinel | $6.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) | JLau Games | |
 | Incremental Frog | $12.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $1.2k (exactly $1,169) | Urban Isotope |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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