Games › Shooter › Shooter + Tower Defense
Should I ship a Tower Defense Shooter?
Shooter + Tower Defense
Of 150 developers who shipped a Tower Defense 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.. 197 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 91 developers shipped in the last year and 197 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $4.0k (exactly $4,042) |
| Top 5% | $137k (exactly $137,405) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 150 |
| Released games | 421 |
| Announced | 197 |
| 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 160% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, 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
- Tower Defense
- 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
- Shooter, Tower Defense; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, Arcade
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $13.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $13.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 71% positive over 15,538 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 65 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 197 games are announced against 91 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Shooter with a different second tag, 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
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville™ 2020 · $14M 
Outpost: Infinity Siege 2024 · $8.7M 
Orcs Must Die! 2 2012 · $5.8M 
The Front 2025 · $5.7M 
Sanctum 2 2013 · $3.4M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville™ | older | $29.99 | 15,372 71% | 461k | $14M (exactly $13,830,188) | PopCap |
| | Outpost: Infinity Siege | older | $24.99 | 11,636 65% | 349k | $8.7M (exactly $8,723,509) | Team Ranger |
| | Orcs Must Die! 2 | older | $14.99 | 12,924 92% | 388k | $5.8M (exactly $5,811,923) | Robot Entertainment |
| | The Front | $19.99 | 9,555 66% | 287k | $5.7M (exactly $5,730,134) | Samar Studio | |
| | Sanctum 2 | older | $14.99 | 7,456 92% | 224k | $3.4M (exactly $3,352,963) | Coffee Stain Studios |
 | HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed | older | $24.99 | 3,798 90% | 114k | $2.8M (exactly $2,847,361) | Digital Cybercherries |
 | Orcs Must Die! | older | $9.99 | 6,663 95% | 200k | $2.0M (exactly $1,996,901) | Robot Entertainment |
 | X-Morph: Defense | older | $19.99 | 3,272 90% | 98k | $2.0M (exactly $1,962,218) | EXOR Studios |
 | Cluckmech Oasis | older | $9.99 | 3,077 87% | 92k | $922k (exactly $922,177) | BlackLight |
 | The Last Stand Legacy Collection | older | $9.99 | 2,614 89% | 78k | $783k (exactly $783,416) | Con Artist Games |
 | Human Host | · EA | $16.88 | 866 83% | 26k | $439k (exactly $438,542) | Virtual Matrix Studio |
 | Survival Machine | $19.99 | 692 69% | 21k | $415k (exactly $414,992) | Grape Pickers | |
 | Outhold | $6.99 | 1,818 86% | 55k | $381k (exactly $381,235) | Tellus Games | |
 | Machine Mind | $19.99 | 567 71% | 17k | $340k (exactly $340,030) | Chudo-Yudo Games | |
 | The Ember Guardian | $19.99 | 278 82% | 8.3k | $167k (exactly $166,717) | Ratbit Games | |
 | Block Fortress 2 | $19.99 | 264 81% | 7.9k | $158k (exactly $158,321) | Foursaken Media | |
 | WAR RATS: The Rat em Up | $11.99 | 382 95% | 11k | $137k (exactly $137,405) | wootusart Industries | |
 | Void Miner – Incremental Asteroids Roguelite | $5.99 | 698 83% | 21k | $125k (exactly $125,431) | RyanJakob | |
 | 7 Days Blood Moons | · EA | $9.99 | 418 40% | 13k | $125k (exactly $125,275) | iLLOGIKA |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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