Games › Top-Down Shooter › Top-Down Shooter + Pirates
Should I ship a Pirate Top-Down Shooter?
Top-Down Shooter + Pirates
Only 11 developers shipped a Pirate 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, Boomerang Jack, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 18 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360, ×0.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300. 18 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper, while revenue is down 45% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $359 (exactly $359) |
| Top 25% | $2.1k (exactly $2,063) |
| Top 5% | $6.3k (exactly $6,296) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 11 |
| Released games | 36 |
| Announced | 18 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 down 45% on the market, supply 165% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Pirates
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Top-Down Shooter
- Price point
- $4.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 83 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 18 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Top-Down Shooter with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + VampiresFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + World War IIFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcheryFair
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + Tactical RPGPoor odds
- + Action RTSPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + DystopianPoor odds
Comparable games
Miss Neko: Pirates 2024 · $167k 
Sea of Survivors 2023 · EA · $87k 
Rum & Gun 2024 · $58k 
Silent Sector 2021 · $49k 
Slot Shots Pinball Ultimate Edition 2024 · $13k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Miss Neko: Pirates | older | $3.99 | 1,395 83% | 42k | $167k (exactly $166,982) | Orangeee |
| | Sea of Survivors | · EA older | $6.99 | 415 81% | 12k | $87k (exactly $87,026) | Nah Yeah Games |
| | Rum & Gun | older | $4.99 | 390 92% | 12k | $58k (exactly $58,383) | Borington |
| | Silent Sector | older | $14.99 | 108 82% | 3.2k | $49k (exactly $48,568) | Rake in Grass |
| | Slot Shots Pinball Ultimate Edition | older | $19.99 | 22 81% | 660 | $13k (exactly $13,193) | Pinblend Studios |
 | Battle of Frigates | older | $4.99 | 58 63% | 1.7k | $8.7k (exactly $8,683) | Dmitriy Uvarov, Vyacheslav Shilikhin |
 | Boomerang Jack | $14.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $6.3k (exactly $6,296) | Recall Interactive | |
 | Rum N' Gold Royale | $4.99 | 34 97% | 1.0k | $5.1k (exactly $5,090) | PrimalDev Games | |
 | Sea King | older | $4.99 | 18 83% | 540 | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) | Interactive Stone |
 | Captain Puff MacFly | $2.99 | 23 95% | 690 | $2.1k (exactly $2,063) | MVCAO Studios | |
 | Dragons Reef | $19.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | Radoslaw Kutowinski | |
 | Goblin Lands | $14.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $450 (exactly $450) | Hot Waffle Games | |
 | Deep Sea Heroes | $5.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $359 (exactly $359) | Soul Coffee Game Studio's | |
 | Moby Click | $3.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $359 (exactly $359) | Drew VanWagner | |
 | Star Corsairs: Fractured Frontier | · EA | $9.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | Tagir Nabiullin |
 | Cannoneer | · EA | $2.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $179 (exactly $179) | Logical Studios |
 | Sail: Evolved Tides | $4.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Aellora Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.