Do I ship it?

Games › Looter Shooter › Looter Shooter + Inventory Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Inventory Management Looter Shooter?

Looter Shooter + Inventory Management

Of 27 developers who shipped an Inventory Management Looter 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.. 61 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $6.9k, ×4.6 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $2.8M, ×1889 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 61 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 70% on the market, 61 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Looter Shooter + Inventory Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 27
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $10k → $9.2k → $69k → $15k → $1.3k → $1.8k (still earning) → $15k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Looter Shooter + Inventory Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 27
Bottom 30% $898 (exactly $898)
Median $6.9k (exactly $6,893)
Top 25% $69k (exactly $68,970)
Top 5% $2.8M (exactly $2,829,984)
Developers, 2 yr 27
Released games 58
Announced 61
Effort 8 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $8.99

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 100% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Looter Shooter
effort 8 / 10 · low · online co-op and a loot economy on top of a shooter
Inventory Management
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
Looter Shooter, Inventory Management; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Loot
Price point
$8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Realistic, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 15,205 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $900, median $6.9k, 1 in 4 over $68k, 1 in 20 over $2.8M.

3 in 10 developers made under $900. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 61 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Looter Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + MechsFair13 devs · median $219k · 14 announced
  2. + Vehicular CombatFair11 devs · median $15k · 14 announced
  3. + IdlerFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 8 announced
  4. + 3D PlatformerLong shot23 devs · median $449 · 16 announced
  5. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds31 devs · median $71k · 73 announced
  6. + Online Co-OpPoor odds54 devs · median $25k · 136 announced
  7. + Co-opPoor odds56 devs · median $25k · 124 announced
  8. + Twin Stick ShooterPoor odds18 devs · median $16k · 44 announced
  9. + DystopianPoor odds14 devs · median $10k · 45 announced
  10. + Base BuildingPoor odds36 devs · median $9.1k · 74 announced
  11. + Character CustomizationPoor odds50 devs · median $9.0k · 151 announced
  12. + RobotsPoor odds23 devs · median $6.0k · 32 announced

All 90 pairs on the Looter Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Ghosts of Tabor 2023 · EA · $6.9M Road to Vostok 2026 · EA · $5.2M Survive the Nights 2025 · $2.8M The Brew Barons 2024 · $546k Alien Shooter 2 - The Legend 2020 · $489k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Ghosts of Tabor · EA older $24.99 9,140 70% 274k $6.9M (exactly $6,852,258) Combat Waffle Studios
Road to Vostok · EA $19.99 8,646 84% 259k $5.2M (exactly $5,185,006) Road to Vostok Ltd.
Survive the Nights $19.99 4,719 68% 142k $2.8M (exactly $2,829,984) a2z Interactive
The Brew Barons older $21.99 828 75% 25k $546k (exactly $546,232) Lifetap Studios
Alien Shooter 2 - The Legend older $14.99 1,087 52% 33k $489k (exactly $488,824) Sigma Team Inc.
Heat Death: Survival Train · EA $11.99 709 77% 21k $255k (exactly $255,027) Mass Game Devs
Last Group Out older $9.99 566 81% 17k $170k (exactly $169,630) Woodland Development
Ashes of the Union older $12.99 407 63% 12k $159k (exactly $158,608) 700 Games Studio
CyberCorp $14.99 351 75% 11k $158k (exactly $157,845) Megame LLC
Fracture Point $19.99 158 81% 4.7k $95k (exactly $94,753) Kyrylo Burlaka
Soulforge Lost Path $8.99 302 69% 9.1k $81k (exactly $81,449) Ziyue
Dustland · EA $22.99 100 69% 3.0k $69k (exactly $68,970) RedPad Games
Shell Runner $14.99 80 57% 2.4k $36k (exactly $35,976) Reija
HOPE 01 · EA $11.99 43 88% 1.3k $15k (exactly $15,467) Bending Boy Games
Bomb Vehicle Idle Clicker · EA $4.99 97 73% 2.9k $15k (exactly $14,521) RimmindGame

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