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Should I ship a Mining Top-Down Shooter?
Mining + Top-Down Shooter
Only 9 developers shipped a Mining Top-Down 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, Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 33 more are announced, ×6.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $390, ×0.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50; 1 in 20 cleared $240k, ×521 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 33 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $390 (exactly $390) |
| Top 25% | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) |
| Top 5% | $248k (exactly $247,552) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 27 |
| Announced | 33 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Mining
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Mining, Top-Down Shooter
- Price point
- $6.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 5,887 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 7 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 33 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Mining with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FarmingStrong odds
- + TradingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + EconomyFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + NatureFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + CollectathonFair
Comparable games
Star Valor 2022 · $2.5M 
Lumencraft 2023 · $651k 
Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival 2025 · $248k 
Power of Ten 2023 · $89k 
HG Adventure 2023 · EA · $55k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Star Valor | older | $24.99 | 3,272 88% | 98k | $2.5M (exactly $2,453,018) | Rafael Burgos |
| | Lumencraft | older | $19.99 | 1,086 75% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | 2Dynamic Games |
| | Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival | $9.99 | 826 77% | 25k | $248k (exactly $247,552) | RetroStyle Games | |
| | Power of Ten | older | $11.99 | 248 79% | 7.4k | $89k (exactly $89,206) | Pew Times Three |
| | HG Adventure | · EA older | $13.99 | 132 88% | 4.0k | $55k (exactly $55,400) | 皓际 |
 | Repetendium | · EA older | $5.99 | 220 92% | 6.6k | $40k (exactly $39,534) | Bearlex Games |
 | Deepstone Rift | · EA | $4.99 | 45 68% | 1.4k | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) | Northend Games |
 | Gun Bombers | older | $3.99 | 35 91% | 1.1k | $4.2k (exactly $4,190) | Antti Vaihia |
 | Cursed Island | older | $8.99 | 15 86% | 450 | $4.0k (exactly $4,046) | CrystallPunk |
 | Surface Breaker | $6.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) | Branno | |
 | The Hunter's Path | $9.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | JustWallWireHead Games | |
 | Dead Above | $12.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $390 (exactly $390) | ZHOU,SU | |
 | Moondrills | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | QnQ Games | |
 | Joltstone | $19.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Soulnata | |
 | Project AsteroidZ | · EA | $4.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Timothy E. Winnie |
 | BreakDespair2D | $3.24 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | HappyLuckyRainbowGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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