Games › Top-Down Shooter › Top-Down Shooter + Space
Should I ship a Space Top-Down Shooter?
Top-Down Shooter + Space
Of 247 developers who shipped a Space Top-Down 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.. 343 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 136 developers shipped in the last year and 343 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $239 (exactly $239) |
| Top 25% | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) |
| Top 5% | $49k (exactly $48,816) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 247 |
| Released games | 720 |
| Announced | 343 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 20% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Space
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Top-Down Shooter; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 52,350 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 122 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 343 games are announced against 136 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Top-Down Shooter with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + VampiresFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + World War IIFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcheryFair
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + Tactical RPGPoor odds
- + Action RTSPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + DystopianPoor odds
Comparable games
Aliens: Dark Descent 2023 · $18M 
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor 2025 · $18M 
HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition 2015 · $15M 
Starcom: Unknown Space 2024 · $3.3M 
Heat Signature 2017 · $3.1M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Aliens: Dark Descent | older | $39.99 | 15,310 87% | 459k | $18M (exactly $18,367,407) | Tindalos Interactive |
| | Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | $12.99 | 46,354 86% | 1.4M | $18M (exactly $18,064,154) | Funday Games | |
| | HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition | older | $19.99 | 25,663 90% | 770k | $15M (exactly $15,390,101) | Arrowhead Game Studios |
| | Starcom: Unknown Space | older | $24.99 | 4,464 92% | 134k | $3.3M (exactly $3,346,661) | Wx3 Labs, LLC |
| | Heat Signature | older | $14.99 | 6,849 94% | 205k | $3.1M (exactly $3,079,995) | Suspicious Developments |
 | Star Valor | older | $24.99 | 3,272 88% | 98k | $2.5M (exactly $2,453,018) | Rafael Burgos |
 | Taur | older | $24.99 | 2,011 79% | 60k | $1.5M (exactly $1,507,647) | Echo Entertainment |
 | DoDonPachi Resurrection | older | $29.99 | 982 95% | 29k | $884k (exactly $883,505) | CAVE Interactive CO.,LTD. |
 | Endoparasitic | older | $9.99 | 2,928 93% | 88k | $878k (exactly $877,522) | Miziziziz |
 | Beat Hazard 2 | older | $18.99 | 1,396 89% | 42k | $795k (exactly $795,301) | Cold Beam Games |
 | Reality Break | $24.99 | 683 80% | 20k | $512k (exactly $512,045) | Element Games, LLC | |
 | Rocket Rats | $5.99 | 2,388 94% | 72k | $429k (exactly $429,124) | Gagonfe | |
 | Galactic Glitch | $12.99 | 920 89% | 28k | $359k (exactly $358,524) | Crunchy Leaf Games | |
 | Enter the Chronosphere | · EA | $14.99 | 420 94% | 13k | $189k (exactly $188,874) | Effort Star |
 | Star Vortex | · EA | $24.99 | 154 84% | 4.6k | $115k (exactly $115,454) | Zorg Games |
 | SHOOPER NOVA | $6.99 | 545 83% | 16k | $114k (exactly $114,286) | Jamesika | |
 | Desperate Place | $10.99 | 253 66% | 7.6k | $83k (exactly $83,414) | BruceGalaxy | |
 | Star Survivor | $4.99 | 540 67% | 16k | $81k (exactly $80,838) | SpaceOwl Games, Erabit | |
 | Truxton Extreme | $24.99 | 93 95% | 2.8k | $70k (exactly $69,722) | Tatsujin |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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