Games › Shooter › Shooter + Resource Management
Should I ship a Resource Management Shooter?
Shooter + Resource Management
Of 90 developers who shipped a Resource Management 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.. 246 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $260k, ×418 the market median. Revenue is up 440% on the market; 246 games are announced against 63 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $180 (exactly $180) |
|---|---|
| Median | $898 (exactly $898) |
| Top 25% | $4.5k (exactly $4,491) |
| Top 5% | $262k (exactly $262,290) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 90 |
| Released games | 205 |
| Announced | 246 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 440% on the market, supply 135% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- Resource Management
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Shooter, Resource Management; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 5,727 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 246 games are announced against 63 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Shooter with a different second tag, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries | older | $29.99 | 13,347 84% | 400k | $12M (exactly $12,008,296) | Piranha Games Inc. |
| | Outpost: Infinity Siege | older | $24.99 | 11,636 65% | 349k | $8.7M (exactly $8,723,509) | Team Ranger |
| | Gloomwood | · EA older | $19.99 | 7,495 95% | 225k | $4.5M (exactly $4,494,752) | Dillon Rogers, David Szymanski, Nate Be… (Dillon Rogers, David Szymanski, Nate Berens, Thomas Porta) |
| | The Final Station | older | $14.99 | 6,739 88% | 202k | $3.0M (exactly $3,030,528) | DO MY BEST |
| | My Friendly Neighborhood | older | $29.99 | 2,485 96% | 75k | $2.2M (exactly $2,235,754) | John Szymanski, Evan Szymanski |
| | Meet Your Maker | older | $19.99 | 3,013 73% | 90k | $1.8M (exactly $1,806,896) | Behaviour Interactive Inc. |
| | Haydee 2 | older | $24.99 | 1,649 87% | 49k | $1.2M (exactly $1,236,255) | Haydee Interactive |
| | El Paso, Elsewhere | older | $19.99 | 1,393 90% | 42k | $835k (exactly $835,382) | Strange Scaffold |
| | Stay Out of the House | older | $14.99 | 1,688 94% | 51k | $759k (exactly $759,094) | Puppet Combo |
| | Echoes of the Living | · EA | $24.99 | 1,005 83% | 30k | $753k (exactly $753,448) | MoonGlint Studio |
| | Survival Machine | $19.99 | 692 69% | 21k | $415k (exactly $414,992) | Grape Pickers | |
| | Zombie Graveyard Simulator | $14.99 | 805 89% | 24k | $362k (exactly $362,008) | threeW | |
| | Machine Mind | $19.99 | 567 71% | 17k | $340k (exactly $340,030) | Chudo-Yudo Games | |
| | Iron Blight | $12.49 | 700 93% | 21k | $262k (exactly $262,290) | Ronesans Interactive | |
| | CURE - A Hospital Simulator | · EA | $9.99 | 830 86% | 25k | $249k (exactly $248,751) | Sentinel Games |
| | Comatose | · EA | $12.99 | 393 96% | 12k | $153k (exactly $153,152) | Lucky Dart |
| | Keep Her Safe | · EA | $9.99 | 382 97% | 11k | $114k (exactly $114,485) | Gugu Studio |
| | Hauntsville | $18.99 | 189 68% | 5.7k | $108k (exactly $107,673) | Michael Janisch | |
| | Shooting Range Simulator | $11.99 | 164 74% | 4.9k | $59k (exactly $58,991) | Buffed 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.