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Should I ship a Shoot 'Em Up Swordplay game?
Swordplay + Shoot 'Em Up
Only 13 developers shipped a Shoot 'Em Up Swordplay 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, Yuri Sword Saga, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 5 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 $69k, ×111 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 5 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $126 (exactly $126) |
|---|---|
| Median | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 25% | $776 (exactly $776) |
| Top 5% | $70k (exactly $69,896) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 27 |
| Announced | 5 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $2.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply 40% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Swordplay
- 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
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Swordplay, Shoot 'Em Up; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Shooter, Action, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $2.99 typical · top 25% priced $10.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $10.99 or above; the middle game at $2.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 436 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $130. 8 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 5 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Swordplay with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + DeckbuildingFair
- + SamuraiPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Female ProtagonistPoor odds
- + FightingPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
Comparable games
LONN 2022 · $181k 
Frenzy VR 2022 · EA · $92k 
Yuri Sword Saga 2024 · $70k 
Diatomic 2024 · $40k 
Head Collector VR 2024 · EA · $14k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | LONN | older | $29.99 | 201 64% | 6.0k | $181k (exactly $180,840) | SixSense Studios |
| | Frenzy VR | · EA older | $14.99 | 205 60% | 6.2k | $92k (exactly $92,188) | Innoverse Ltd |
| | Yuri Sword Saga | $10.99 | 212 97% | 6.4k | $70k (exactly $69,896) | Pico Games | |
| | Diatomic | older | $9.99 | 135 76% | 4.1k | $40k (exactly $40,460) | Diatomic Studios |
| | Head Collector VR | · EA older | $20.00 | 24 66% | 720 | $14k (exactly $14,400) | Lil Husky VR |
 | FROGUE | older | $11.99 | 34 91% | 1.0k | $12k (exactly $12,230) | Wired Dreams Studio |
 | 宗门最后的长老 | $2.99 | 99 96% | 3.0k | $8.9k (exactly $8,880) | KUMA studio | |
 | Great Tough Bikini 6 | $2.99 | 74 70% | 2.2k | $6.6k (exactly $6,638) | nStarcube | |
 | Knife To Meet You | older | $14.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $5.8k (exactly $5,846) | Mate Magyar |
 | Go, Go Cowboy | older | $4.99 | 17 82% | 510 | $2.5k (exactly $2,545) | PhoenixFire Games |
 | Island of Challenge | $1.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $776 (exactly $776) | Doorway Mountain Studios | |
 | Kill Dee | $0.99 | 17 82% | 510 | $505 (exactly $505) | BYE BYE, BUYBYEGames | |
 | Geometry raid | $1.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $478 (exactly $478) | RoughStone | |
 | 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 | |
 | Deadcave | $0.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $267 (exactly $267) | cnsmini | |
 | ShoJinDen | $4.20 | 1 100% | 30 | $126 (exactly $126) | EigetsuGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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