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Should I ship an Online Co-Op Third-Person Shooter?
Online Co-Op + Third-Person Shooter
Of 113 developers who shipped an Online Co-Op Third-Person 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.. 272 more are announced, ×4.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×1.8 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $5.2M, ×3519 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 272 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) |
| Top 25% | $150k (exactly $150,389) |
| Top 5% | $5.3M (exactly $5,271,446) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 113 |
| Released games | 401 |
| Announced | 272 |
| 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 90% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 26%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Online Co-Op
- effort 8 / 10 · low · netcode, lobbies and state sync across machines
- Third-Person Shooter
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Online Co-Op, Third-Person Shooter; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op, Shooter
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Third Person, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 818,774 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 6 in 10 of the 69 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 272 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Online Co-Op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Bullet HeavenStrong odds
- + Escape RoomFair
- + TypingFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + City BuilderPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
Comparable games
HELLDIVERS™ 2 2024 · $1.0B 
Palworld 2026 · $371M 
ARC Raiders 2025 · $359M 
Arma 3 2013 · $206M 
Risk of Rain 2 2020 · $180M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | HELLDIVERS™ 2 | older | $39.99 | 838,901 76% | 25M | $1.0B (exactly $1,006,429,530) | Arrowhead Game Studios |
| | Palworld | $29.99 | 411,947 94% | 12M | $371M (exactly $370,628,716) | Pocketpair | |
| | ARC Raiders | $39.99 | 299,346 82% | 9.0M | $359M (exactly $359,125,396) | Embark Studios | |
| | Arma 3 | older | $29.99 | 228,910 90% | 6.9M | $206M (exactly $205,950,327) | Bohemia Interactive |
| | Risk of Rain 2 | older | $24.99 | 240,001 93% | 7.2M | $180M (exactly $179,928,750) | Hopoo Games |
 | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Wildlands | older | $49.99 | 99,590 78% | 3.0M | $149M (exactly $149,355,123) | Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft… (Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Annecy, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Milan, Reflections, Ubisoft Belgrade) |
 | Watch_Dogs® 2 | older | $49.99 | 95,242 82% | 2.9M | $143M (exactly $142,834,427) | Ubisoft |
 | STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II | older | $39.99 | 87,494 88% | 2.6M | $105M (exactly $104,966,552) | DICE |
 | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Breakpoint | older | $59.99 | 44,635 72% | 1.3M | $80M (exactly $80,329,610) | Ubisoft Paris |
 | REMNANT II® | older | $49.99 | 46,219 82% | 1.4M | $69M (exactly $69,314,634) | Gunfire Games |
 | REMATCH | $29.99 | 39,905 70% | 1.2M | $36M (exactly $35,902,528) | Sloclap | |
 | Deadside | $24.99 | 34,560 76% | 1.0M | $26M (exactly $25,909,632) | Bad Pixel | |
 | Mistfall Hunter | $24.99 | 16,045 53% | 481k | $12M (exactly $12,028,936) | Bellring Games | |
 | Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 | $49.99 | 3,515 61% | 105k | $5.3M (exactly $5,271,446) | Cold Iron Studios | |
 | Gears of War: Reloaded | $39.99 | 3,950 61% | 119k | $4.7M (exactly $4,738,815) | The Coalition | |
 | Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap | $29.99 | 4,053 69% | 122k | $3.6M (exactly $3,646,484) | Robot Entertainment | |
 | SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream | $59.99 | 2,021 64% | 61k | $3.6M (exactly $3,637,194) | Dimps Corporation | |
 | POPUCOM | $19.99 | 3,432 87% | 103k | $2.1M (exactly $2,058,170) | Hypergryph |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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