Games › Shooter › Shooter + Underwater
Should I ship an Underwater Shooter?
Shooter + Underwater
Of 23 developers who shipped an Underwater 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.. 38 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $87k, ×139 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 38 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $959 (exactly $959) |
| Top 25% | $3.3k (exactly $3,293) |
| Top 5% | $88k (exactly $87,556) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 85 |
| Announced | 38 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Underwater
- 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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arena Shooter, Character Customization
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 5,323 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 38 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 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
BioShock™ Remastered 2016 · $31M 
BioShock™ 2007 · $15M 
BioShock™ 2 Remastered 2016 · $15M 
Depth 2014 · $14M 
Sunkenland 2023 · EA · $12M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BioShock™ Remastered | older | $19.99 | 52,500 83% | 1.6M | $31M (exactly $31,484,250) | 2K Boston, 2K Australia, Blind Squirrel… (2K Boston, 2K Australia, Blind Squirrel, Feral Interactive (Mac)) |
| | BioShock™ | older | $19.99 | 25,188 93% | 756k | $15M (exactly $15,105,244) | 2K Boston, 2K Australia |
| | BioShock™ 2 Remastered | older | $19.99 | 24,316 72% | 729k | $15M (exactly $14,582,305) | 2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2… (2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2K Australia, Blind Squirrel, Feral Interactive (Mac)) |
| | Depth | older | $19.99 | 23,590 89% | 708k | $14M (exactly $14,146,923) | Ammobox Studios |
| | Sunkenland | · EA older | $19.99 | 20,536 80% | 616k | $12M (exactly $12,315,439) | Vector3 Studio |
 | BioShock® 2 | older | $19.99 | 11,467 88% | 344k | $6.9M (exactly $6,876,760) | 2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2… (2K Marin, 2K China, Digital Extremes, 2K Australia) |
 | Abyssus | $24.99 | 5,014 84% | 150k | $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996) | DoubleMoose Games | |
 | Tomb Raider: Underworld | older | $8.99 | 6,173 76% | 185k | $1.7M (exactly $1,664,858) | Crystal Dynamics |
 | Northern Journey | older | $11.99 | 3,500 96% | 105k | $1.3M (exactly $1,258,950) | Slid Studio |
 | Death in the Water 2 | older | $14.99 | 1,734 83% | 52k | $780k (exactly $779,780) | Lighthouse Games Studio |
 | Death In Abyss | $19.99 | 146 82% | 4.4k | $88k (exactly $87,556) | Agelvik | |
 | JAWS: Retro Edition | $14.99 | 38 97% | 1.1k | $17k (exactly $17,089) | Limited Run Games | |
 | Hook Line and Sniper | $7.99 | 23 100% | 690 | $5.5k (exactly $5,513) | ItellaItella, Justin1L8 | |
 | Critical Fishing | $2.99 | 50 96% | 1.5k | $4.5k (exactly $4,485) | lazygun | |
 | Slug Wars | $4.99 | 22 100% | 660 | $3.3k (exactly $3,293) | Hovi Production | |
 | SALTWATER | $3.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $1.7k (exactly $1,676) | Lean Hog, shinyvictorcarp | |
 | Snapshot Aquarium | · EA | $5.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) | Octoponx |
 | Tigershark | $9.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | N-Space | |
 | SeaQuestDungeon | $7.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) | AlchemistGame |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.