Do I ship it?

Games › Sniper › Sniper + Shoot 'Em Up

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Shoot 'Em Up Sniper game?

Sniper + Shoot 'Em Up

Only 17 developers shipped a Shoot 'Em Up Sniper game 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, Beach Invasion 1915-Gallipoli, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 14 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $210 in the last 2 years and $420 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 10 developers shipped in the last year and 14 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.3 times the market baseline, revenue up 45% on the market, 14 announced, ×1.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Sniper + Shoot 'Em Up
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 17
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $683 → $2.5k → $1.2k → $300 → $11k → $240 → $0 (still earning) → $59 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Sniper + Shoot 'Em Up: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 17
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $210 (exactly $210)
Top 25% $624 (exactly $624)
Top 5% $17k (exactly $17,498)
Developers, 2 yr 17
Released games 54
Announced 14
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 up 45% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, 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.

Sniper
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Shoot 'Em Up
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
Sniper, Shoot 'Em Up; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Shooter
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Retro, Side Scroller
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $7.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 452 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $210, 1 in 4 over $620, 1 in 20 over $17k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 14 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Sci-fiFair9 devs · median $600 · 10 announced
  2. + ArcadeLong shot20 devs · median $300 · 14 announced
  3. + MilitaryPoor odds28 devs · median $3.0k · 38 announced
  4. + TacticalPoor odds22 devs · median $1.4k · 33 announced
  5. + Action-AdventurePoor odds15 devs · median $1.2k · 22 announced
  6. + FPSPoor odds36 devs · median $899 · 57 announced
  7. + CombatPoor odds24 devs · median $899 · 38 announced
  8. + Bullet TimePoor odds8 devs · median $899 · 6 announced
  9. + StealthPoor odds12 devs · median $779 · 22 announced
  10. + ShooterPoor odds55 devs · median $600 · 84 announced
  11. + Gun CustomizationPoor odds10 devs · median $600 · 11 announced
  12. + ActionPoor odds69 devs · median $598 · 89 announced

All 36 pairs on the Sniper page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Clownfield 2042 2021 · $118k GW: Legacy 2023 · $61k Masked Forces: Zombie Survival 2017 · $54k KILLRUN 2022 · $23k Alien Hallway 2 2017 · $21k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Clownfield 2042 older $0.99 3,964 84% 119k $118k (exactly $117,731) RIVERSIDE SPORTS
GW: Legacy older $15.99 128 61% 3.8k $61k (exactly $61,402) Alto Interactive
Masked Forces: Zombie Survival older $4.99 359 70% 11k $54k (exactly $53,742) Nightbinder
KILLRUN older $4.99 153 67% 4.6k $23k (exactly $22,904) BULKHEAD
Alien Hallway 2 older $4.99 137 67% 4.1k $21k (exactly $20,509) Sigma Team Inc.
Beach Invasion 1915-Gallipoli $7.99 73 71% 2.2k $17k (exactly $17,498) AIx2 Games
The Original Moorhuhn Hunt $2.99 140 97% 4.2k $13k (exactly $12,558) Higgs Games GmbH, GeekPit Studio
Gun Reflex VR $8.99 42 61% 1.3k $11k (exactly $11,327) OBGames
Masked Forces 2: Mystic Demons older $4.99 67 73% 2.0k $10k (exactly $10,030) FreezeNova
Struggle Offensive · EA older $1.99 132 63% 4.0k $7.9k (exactly $7,880) OXO Games
Shoot The Barrels $1.99 103 72% 3.1k $6.1k (exactly $6,149) BATTLE LAB
Moorhuhn 2 $4.99 31 96% 930 $4.6k (exactly $4,641) Higgs Games GmbH, GeekPit Studio
Moorhuhn Remake $2.99 38 89% 1.1k $3.4k (exactly $3,409) Higgs Games GmbH, GeekPit Studio
BouleMan $0.99 21 100% 630 $624 (exactly $624) Haruka Nitaka, Matthew Taylor, Samantha… (Haruka Nitaka, Matthew Taylor, Samantha Anderson, Sussanne Beaujeu, T.Beaujeu, S.DAAS, Tony Tutty)
Accurate Adjacent Ballistics Simulator $9.99 1 0% 30 $300 (exactly $300) MagusForge
Star Witch $4.99 2 0% 60 $299 (exactly $299) Frozen Dungeon
Shuriken Practice 3 $7.99 1 0% 30 $240 (exactly $240) myBad Studios

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