Do I ship it?

Games › Score Attack › Score Attack + Tower Defense

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Tower Defense Score Attack game?

Score Attack + Tower Defense

Of 49 developers who shipped a Tower Defense Score Attack game 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.. 54 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 30 developers shipped in the last year and 54 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.9 times the market baseline, revenue down 50% on the market, 54 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Score Attack + Tower Defense
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 49
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.3k → $449 → $300 → $897 → $1.9k → $599 → $299 (still earning) → $180 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Score Attack + Tower Defense: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 49
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $449 (exactly $449)
Top 25% $2.9k (exactly $2,936)
Top 5% $392k (exactly $392,144)
Developers, 2 yr 49
Released games 123
Announced 54
Effort 3 / 10
AI-buildability High
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 50% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 4%, 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 high: the lowest rating among its tags.

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

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
Systems
Score Attack, Tower Defense; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelite, Strategy, Action
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 80% positive over 6,886 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $450, 1 in 4 over $2.9k, 1 in 20 over $390k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 54 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + MechsFair23 devs · median $6.2k · 24 announced
  2. + Spectacle fighterFair31 devs · median $4.3k · 29 announced
  3. + DragonsFair16 devs · median $2.1k · 11 announced
  4. + VampiresFair16 devs · median $1.7k · 14 announced
  5. + CookingFair28 devs · median $1.4k · 30 announced
  6. + SuperheroFair11 devs · median $1.3k · 5 announced
  7. + Female ProtagonistFair112 devs · median $1.2k · 104 announced
  8. + GolfFair11 devs · median $1.2k · 8 announced
  9. + GothicFair20 devs · median $959 · 14 announced
  10. + ModernFair53 devs · median $899 · 43 announced
  11. + Choose Your Own AdventureFair14 devs · median $898 · 11 announced
  12. + UndergroundFair23 devs · median $748 · 18 announced

All 200 pairs on the Score Attack page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Orcs Must Die! 2011 · $2.0M Element TD 2 - Tower Defense 2021 · $1.3M Monsters are Coming! 2025 · $733k Axon TD: Uprising - Tower Defense 2024 · $423k Achilles: Survivor 2025 · $392k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Orcs Must Die! older $9.99 6,663 95% 200k $2.0M (exactly $1,996,901) Robot Entertainment
Element TD 2 - Tower Defense older $14.99 2,848 90% 85k $1.3M (exactly $1,280,746) Element Studios
Monsters are Coming! $8.99 2,718 79% 82k $733k (exactly $733,045) Ludogram
Axon TD: Uprising - Tower Defense $19.99 706 85% 21k $423k (exactly $423,388) Element Studios
Achilles: Survivor $8.99 1,454 81% 44k $392k (exactly $392,144) Dark Point Games
Sineus Arena Survivors $10.99 1,150 77% 35k $379k (exactly $379,155) Sineus Games
Poly TD $7.99 587 82% 18k $141k (exactly $140,704) Naroot
Toy Soldiers: HD older $29.99 125 62% 3.8k $112k (exactly $112,462) Signal Studios, Outer Heaven, Eden Indu… (Signal Studios, Outer Heaven, Eden Industries)
GROSS older $12.99 265 80% 8.0k $103k (exactly $103,270) hangry owl games
Broken Universe - Tower Defense older $9.99 289 90% 8.7k $87k (exactly $86,613) Jinthree Studio
IRON GUARD: Salvation $17.99 44 93% 1.3k $24k (exactly $23,747) Xlab Digital
Stick Infinite Kingdom $9.99 55 65% 1.7k $16k (exactly $16,484) Arckon Arts
Lichgate: Tower Survivor $6.99 57 75% 1.7k $12k (exactly $11,953) Sun Lion Games
Neon Ascending $3.99 90 82% 2.7k $11k (exactly $10,773) TheCarmineDepth
AI.VI $13.99 25 100% 750 $10k (exactly $10,492) Out of Time

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