Games › Shooter › Shooter + Post-apocalyptic
Should I ship a Post-apocalyptic Shooter?
Shooter + Post-apocalyptic
Of 424 developers who shipped a Post-apocalyptic 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.. 839 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×2.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $1.1M, ×1846 the market median. Revenue is up 145% on the market; 839 games are announced against 226 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,241) |
| Top 25% | $11k (exactly $11,301) |
| Top 5% | $1.2M (exactly $1,159,127) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 424 |
| Released games | 1,278 |
| Announced | 839 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 up 145% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Post-apocalyptic
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Shooter; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, FPS
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 545,619 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 231 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 839 games are announced against 226 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Shooter with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + VampiresFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + SnowFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + ArcadeLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
Comparable games
Rust 2018 · $1.4B 
DayZ 2018 · $582M 
ARC Raiders 2025 · $359M 
Left 4 Dead 2 2009 · $245M 
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl 2024 · $192M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Rust | older | $39.99 | 1,167,920 87% | 35M | $1.4B (exactly $1,401,153,624) | Facepunch Studios |
| | DayZ | older | $49.99 | 387,850 78% | 12M | $582M (exactly $581,658,645) | Bohemia Interactive |
| | ARC Raiders | $39.99 | 299,346 82% | 9.0M | $359M (exactly $359,125,396) | Embark Studios | |
| | Left 4 Dead 2 | older | $9.99 | 816,316 97% | 24M | $245M (exactly $244,649,905) | Valve |
| | S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | $59.99 | 106,592 81% | 3.2M | $192M (exactly $191,833,622) | GSC Game World | |
 | Fallout 4 | older | $19.99 | 290,555 81% | 8.7M | $174M (exactly $174,245,834) | Bethesda Game Studios |
 | DOOM Eternal | older | $29.99 | 187,483 91% | 5.6M | $169M (exactly $168,678,455) | id Software |
 | The Last of Us™ Part I | older | $59.99 | 65,259 85% | 2.0M | $117M (exactly $117,446,622) | Naughty Dog LLC, Iron Galaxy Studios |
 | Metro Exodus | older | $29.99 | 117,453 90% | 3.5M | $106M (exactly $105,672,464) | 4A Games |
 | Fallout 76 | older | $39.99 | 78,346 74% | 2.4M | $94M (exactly $93,991,696) | Bethesda Game Studios |
 | Deadside | $24.99 | 34,560 76% | 1.0M | $26M (exactly $25,909,632) | Bad Pixel | |
 | The Forever Winter | · EA | $29.99 | 21,376 68% | 641k | $19M (exactly $19,231,987) | Fun Dog Studios |
 | Drive Beyond Horizons | · EA | $24.99 | 17,903 77% | 537k | $13M (exactly $13,421,879) | Drive Beyond Horizons |
 | Deadzone: Rogue | $24.99 | 15,041 82% | 451k | $11M (exactly $11,276,238) | Prophecy Games | |
 | ZERO Sievert | $19.99 | 14,378 84% | 431k | $8.6M (exactly $8,622,487) | CABO Studio | |
 | MISERY | $12.99 | 20,015 85% | 600k | $7.8M (exactly $7,799,846) | Platypus Entertainment | |
 | HumanitZ | $19.99 | 11,155 74% | 335k | $6.7M (exactly $6,689,653) | Yodubzz Studios | |
 | Into the Radius 2 | $39.99 | 5,253 79% | 158k | $6.3M (exactly $6,302,024) | CM IMMERSIVE |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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