Games › Shooter › Shooter + Spaceships
Should I ship a Spaceship Shooter?
Shooter + Spaceships
Of 25 developers who shipped a Spaceship 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.. 21 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×2.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $4.5M, ×7209 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 21 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,499) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $19,787) |
| Top 5% | $4.5M (exactly $4,527,290) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 77 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 75% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, 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
- Spaceships
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Shooter; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Looter Shooter
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 17,712 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 6 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 21 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Shooter with a different setting or mood, 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
STAR WARS™: Squadrons 2020 · $30M 
Jump Space 2025 · EA · $6.4M 
Wildgate 2025 · $4.5M 
Chorus 2021 · $2.9M 
Space Pirates and Zombies 2011 · $669k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | STAR WARS™: Squadrons | older | $39.99 | 25,086 66% | 753k | $30M (exactly $30,095,674) | MOTIVE |
| | Jump Space | · EA | $19.99 | 10,724 85% | 322k | $6.4M (exactly $6,431,183) | Keepsake Games |
| | Wildgate | $29.99 | 5,032 77% | 151k | $4.5M (exactly $4,527,290) | Moonshot Games | |
| | Chorus | older | $24.99 | 3,876 81% | 116k | $2.9M (exactly $2,905,837) | Deep Silver Fishlabs |
| | Space Pirates and Zombies | older | $9.99 | 2,231 91% | 67k | $669k (exactly $668,631) | MinMax Games Ltd. |
 | Reality Break | $24.99 | 683 80% | 20k | $512k (exactly $512,045) | Element Games, LLC | |
 | Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War | older | $19.99 | 234 77% | 7.0k | $140k (exactly $140,330) | Volition Inc. |
 | Star Vortex | · EA | $24.99 | 154 84% | 4.6k | $115k (exactly $115,454) | Zorg Games |
 | HELL GALAXY | $24.99 | 89 74% | 2.7k | $67k (exactly $66,723) | Italian Games Factory | |
 | I See Red | older | $9.99 | 106 90% | 3.2k | $32k (exactly $31,768) | Whiteboard Games |
 | Deep Space Cache | $0.99 | 884 90% | 27k | $26k (exactly $26,255) | Monu | |
 | eXoSpace Combat Engineer | · EA | $14.99 | 44 81% | 1.3k | $20k (exactly $19,787) | Fantastimaker |
 | Emerald Blue | $9.99 | 43 100% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $12,887) | Emerald Blue Team | |
 | SUPERVERSE | $9.99 | 37 70% | 1.1k | $11k (exactly $11,089) | Superverse Industries | |
 | Seven Suns of Orion | $4.99 | 22 100% | 660 | $3.3k (exactly $3,293) | FerroFerrous |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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