Do I ship it?

Games › Shooter › Shooter + Mars

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Mars Shooter?

Shooter + Mars

Only 15 developers shipped a Mars 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, Scionide, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 22 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $180 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 6 developers shipped in the last year and 22 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 2585% on the market, 22 announced, ×3.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Shooter + Mars
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 15
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $22k → $3.2k → $179 → $150 → $300 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Shooter + Mars: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 15
Bottom 30% $60 (exactly $60)
Median $179 (exactly $179)
Top 25% $898 (exactly $898)
Top 5% $3.1k (exactly $3,148)
Developers, 2 yr 15
Released games 74
Announced 22
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 up 2585% on the market, supply 35% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 18%, 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
Mars
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

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; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Bullet Hell, Shoot 'Em Up
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 1990's, 2D, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 39 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $60, median $180, 1 in 4 over $890, 1 in 20 over $3.1k.

3 in 10 developers made under $60. All of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 22 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Shooter with a different setting or mood, 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. + IdlerFair70 devs · median $836 · 59 announced
  6. + Match 3Fair15 devs · median $719 · 5 announced
  7. + SnowFair22 devs · median $570 · 23 announced
  8. + Boss RushFair16 devs · median $537 · 20 announced
  9. + IncrementalFair85 devs · median $479 · 88 announced
  10. + ArcadeLong shot1,151 devs · median $419 · 1,332 announced
  11. + Score AttackLong shot372 devs · median $300 · 352 announced
  12. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds25 devs · median $139k · 45 announced

All 229 pairs on the Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

DOOM 3 2012 · $2.7M Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered 2018 · $2.0M Red Faction®: Armageddon™ 2011 · $1.6M Red Faction 2009 · $726k Jamestown 2011 · $195k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
DOOM 3 older $9.99 9,133 85% 274k $2.7M (exactly $2,737,160) id Software
Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered older $19.99 3,385 79% 102k $2.0M (exactly $2,029,984) Volition, KAIKO
Red Faction®: Armageddon™ older $19.99 2,615 70% 78k $1.6M (exactly $1,568,215) Volition
Red Faction older $9.99 2,421 85% 73k $726k (exactly $725,574) Volition
Jamestown older $9.99 652 94% 20k $195k (exactly $195,404) Final Form Games
Chaser older $4.99 1,113 72% 33k $167k (exactly $166,616) Cauldron
SOL CRESTA older $17.99 104 77% 3.1k $56k (exactly $56,129) PlatinumGames Inc.
Diluvian Ultra older $9.99 152 71% 4.6k $46k (exactly $45,554) Cresthelm Studios
KUR older $19.99 46 60% 1.4k $28k (exactly $27,586) Really Ragdoll
DemonStar older $2.99 248 94% 7.4k $22k (exactly $22,246) Scott Host
Scionide · EA $14.99 7 71% 210 $3.1k (exactly $3,148) SYONIX
Project Neon $19.99 5 80% 150 $3.0k (exactly $2,998) FULLSET
Battle for Asciion $4.99 12 91% 360 $1.8k (exactly $1,796) Relevo
IRONBORNE $4.99 6 100% 180 $898 (exactly $898) Tres Interactive
Invasion 2 $9.99 1 100% 30 $300 (exactly $300) CDIS Lab.
Blood Aliens 3 $4.99 2 100% 60 $299 (exactly $299) Ciberrex Games
Space Shooter - Tryü Sora $2.99 2 50% 60 $179 (exactly $179) DeadFly.Games
Astro Miners $2.99 2 100% 60 $179 (exactly $179) Jinx Digital
Bryan's Indie Collection $4.99 1 100% 30 $150 (exactly $150) Bryan Veres
Pink Devil $1.99 1 100% 30 $60 (exactly $60) Lola Fisher

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