Do I ship it?

Games › Shooter › Shooter + Score Attack

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Score Attack Shooter?

Shooter + Score Attack

Of 372 developers who shipped a Score Attack 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.. 352 more are announced.

Verdict: long shot, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300, ×0.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, but 1 in 20 cleared $91k, ×146 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 352 games are announced against 226 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 20% on the market, 352 announced, ×1.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Shooter + Score Attack
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 372
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.2k → $1.1k → $628 → $449 → $599 → $598 → $449 (still earning) → $90 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Shooter + Score Attack: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 372
Bottom 30% $89 (exactly $89)
Median $300 (exactly $300)
Top 25% $2.9k (exactly $2,878)
Top 5% $91k (exactly $91,495)
Developers, 2 yr 372
Released games 1,210
Announced 352
Effort 6 / 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 20% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Score Attack
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Shooter, Score Attack; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Shoot 'Em Up
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Retro, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 89% positive over 14,344 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $89, median $300, 1 in 4 over $2.8k, 1 in 20 over $91k.

3 in 10 developers made under $89. 9 in 10 of the 176 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 352 games are announced against 226 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Dating SimFair23 devs · median $9.8k · 17 announced
  2. + CollectathonFair69 devs · median $1.4k · 64 announced
  3. + VampiresFair38 devs · median $1.3k · 41 announced
  4. + Walking SimulatorFair68 devs · median $1.2k · 62 announced
  5. + IdlerFair70 devs · median $836 · 59 announced
  6. + Match 3Fair15 devs · median $719 · 5 announced
  7. + SnowFair22 devs · median $570 · 23 announced
  8. + Boss RushFair16 devs · median $537 · 20 announced
  9. + IncrementalFair85 devs · median $479 · 88 announced
  10. + ArcadeLong shot1,151 devs · median $419 · 1,332 announced
  11. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds25 devs · median $139k · 45 announced
  12. + Character Action GamePoor odds14 devs · median $84k · 47 announced

All 229 pairs on the Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

ULTRAKILL 2020 · EA · $192M Counter-Strike 2000 · $51M Hitman: Absolution™ 2012 · $30M Metal: Hellsinger 2022 · $13M MULLET MADJACK 2024 · $4.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
ULTRAKILL · EA older $29.99 213,450 97% 6.4M $192M (exactly $192,040,965) Arsi "Hakita" Patala
Counter-Strike older $9.99 169,780 96% 5.1M $51M (exactly $50,883,066) Valve
Hitman: Absolution™ older $19.99 49,637 93% 1.5M $30M (exactly $29,767,309) Io-Interactive A/S
Metal: Hellsinger older $29.99 13,989 96% 420k $13M (exactly $12,585,903) The Outsiders
MULLET MADJACK older $19.99 8,235 97% 247k $4.9M (exactly $4,938,530) HAMMER95
Orcs Must Die! older $9.99 6,663 95% 200k $2.0M (exactly $1,996,901) Robot Entertainment
The Typing of The Dead: Overkill older $19.99 2,782 87% 83k $1.7M (exactly $1,668,365) Modern Dream
HYPER DEMON older $14.99 3,087 94% 93k $1.4M (exactly $1,388,224) Sorath
Greedland $12.99 2,919 83% 88k $1.1M (exactly $1,137,534) VaMP He
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours older $49.99 717 82% 22k $1.1M (exactly $1,075,285) Pyramid
Vampire Hunters $14.99 1,941 89% 58k $873k (exactly $872,868) Gamecraft Studios
KILL KNIGHT $14.99 1,804 93% 54k $811k (exactly $811,259) PlaySide
Bloodshed $12.99 1,824 84% 55k $711k (exactly $710,813) com8com1 Software
Iron Meat $19.99 982 96% 29k $589k (exactly $588,905) Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov, Retroware
Wizordum $19.99 880 91% 26k $528k (exactly $527,736) Emberheart Games
CICADAMATA" $9.99 1,419 96% 43k $425k (exactly $425,274) ✿ flowergarden
Sektori $14.99 897 96% 27k $403k (exactly $403,381) Kimmo Lahtinen
Touhou Kinjoukyou ～ Fossilized Wonders. $14.99 832 91% 25k $374k (exactly $374,150) 上海アリス幻樂団
Guns and Nuns: Storming Hell $9.99 846 88% 25k $254k (exactly $253,546) RM120

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.