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Should I ship a Loot Tower Defense?
Loot + Tower Defense
Of 32 developers who shipped a Loot Tower Defense 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.. 52 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×1.9 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $450k, ×720 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 52 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) |
| Top 25% | $5.8k (exactly $5,804) |
| Top 5% | $452k (exactly $451,948) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 32 |
| Released games | 62 |
| Announced | 52 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 55% on the market, supply 335% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 3%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Loot
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Tower Defense
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Tower Defense; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Roguelite, Strategy
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 4,125 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 7 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 52 games are announced against 26 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds
- + Local Co-OpStrong odds
- + SteampunkStrong odds
- + CapitalismFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + JRPGFair
- + EconomyFair
- + IdlerFair
- + CatsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + CollectathonFair
Comparable games
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II 2014 · $879k 
Knightica 2025 · $511k 
Tangy TD 2026 · $452k 
Sineus Arena Survivors 2026 · $379k 
miniBONG 2023 · $264k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II | older | $14.99 | 1,954 70% | 59k | $879k (exactly $878,714) | NeocoreGames |
| | Knightica | $14.99 | 1,136 74% | 34k | $511k (exactly $510,859) | Mad Mango Games | |
| | Tangy TD | $9.99 | 1,508 90% | 45k | $452k (exactly $451,948) | Cakez | |
| | Sineus Arena Survivors | $10.99 | 1,150 77% | 35k | $379k (exactly $379,155) | Sineus Games | |
| | miniBONG | older | $9.99 | 881 79% | 26k | $264k (exactly $264,036) | Game Star |
 | Prime World: Defenders | older | $9.99 | 729 78% | 22k | $218k (exactly $218,481) | Nival |
 | Arms Evolution: ZOMBIE DESTROYER | older | $5.99 | 268 64% | 8.0k | $48k (exactly $48,160) | Ash Game Studio |
 | Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship | $9.99 | 139 75% | 4.2k | $42k (exactly $41,658) | Zing Games Inc., 紫英互娱 | |
 | Secrets of Magonia | older | $10.99 | 97 91% | 2.9k | $32k (exactly $31,981) | Elixion |
 | Elemental Master: Heroes Assemble | $9.99 | 68 50% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $20,380) | DeepDream Studio | |
 | Divinity Vassals | $11.99 | 36 75% | 1.1k | $13k (exactly $12,949) | Yi | |
 | Dice Goblin's Den | $11.99 | 17 94% | 510 | $6.1k (exactly $6,115) | babachoo | |
 | idle:Doodle Realm | · EA | $5.69 | 34 76% | 1.0k | $5.8k (exactly $5,804) | JIANBING |
 | Clockfall | · EA | $9.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $5.4k (exactly $5,395) | Rever Games GmbH |
 | Elemental Magic Wars | $7.99 | 19 84% | 570 | $4.6k (exactly $4,554) | FWGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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