Games › Shooter › Shooter + Underground
Should I ship an Underground Shooter?
Shooter + Underground
Of 37 developers who shipped an Underground 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.. 68 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $80k, ×128 the market median. Revenue is up 125% on the market; 68 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $3.0k (exactly $2,992) |
| Top 5% | $80k (exactly $80,496) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 37 |
| Released games | 106 |
| Announced | 68 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 125% on the market, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Underground
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Shooter; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, PvE, Action Roguelike
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Story Rich, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 6,856 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 25 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 68 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 per shipper.
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
BONELAB 2022 · $22M 
Watch Dogs®: Legion 2023 · $21M 
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (1999) 2026 · $698k 
Lumencraft 2023 · $651k 
Resident Evil 2 (1998) 2026 · $625k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BONELAB | older | $39.99 | 18,670 82% | 560k | $22M (exactly $22,398,399) | Stress Level Zero |
| | Watch Dogs®: Legion | older | $59.99 | 11,891 56% | 357k | $21M (exactly $21,400,233) | Ubisoft Toronto |
| | Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (1999) | $9.99 | 2,329 89% | 70k | $698k (exactly $698,001) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
| | Lumencraft | older | $19.99 | 1,086 75% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | 2Dynamic Games |
| | Resident Evil 2 (1998) | $9.99 | 2,084 90% | 63k | $625k (exactly $624,575) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
 | Resident Evil (1996) | $9.99 | 1,602 90% | 48k | $480k (exactly $480,119) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
 | Frogmonster | older | $19.99 | 585 96% | 18k | $351k (exactly $350,824) | Ben Jungwirth |
 | goblinAmerica | · EA | $14.99 | 179 96% | 5.4k | $80k (exactly $80,496) | Gil Lawson |
 | ARKOS | older | $9.99 | 179 78% | 5.4k | $54k (exactly $53,646) | RetroSouls |
 | DUNGEON RAZE | $2.99 | 458 85% | 14k | $41k (exactly $41,083) | KOTARO YOSHIDA | |
 | Cthulhu's Reach: Devil Reef | $9.99 | 68 80% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $20,380) | The Fine Arc | |
 | Tokyo Underground Killer | $9.99 | 52 78% | 1.6k | $16k (exactly $15,584) | Phoenix Game Productions | |
 | ARKOS 2 | $12.99 | 34 91% | 1.0k | $13k (exactly $13,250) | RetroSouls | |
 | Bugscraper | $9.99 | 28 96% | 840 | $8.4k (exactly $8,392) | Yolwoocle, OLX, Verbaudet, Ninesliced | |
 | Internal Extraction | $7.99 | 22 77% | 660 | $5.3k (exactly $5,273) | LuisDev |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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