Games › Sports › Sports + Top-Down Shooter
Should I ship a Top-Down Shooter Sports game?
Sports + Top-Down Shooter
Only 13 developers shipped a Top-Down Shooter Sports game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Just Move Fall Dungeon Endless Abyss, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 12 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $90 in the last 2 years and $120 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 9 developers shipped in the last year and 12 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $90 (exactly $90) |
| Top 25% | $180 (exactly $180) |
| Top 5% | $3.8k (exactly $3,838) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 49 |
| Announced | 12 |
| 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 80% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Sports
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Top-Down Shooter
- 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
- Sports, Top-Down Shooter; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 1990's, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 9 games average 78% positive over 37 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 12 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Sports with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dynamic NarrationStrong odds
- + CraftingFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + SandboxFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + FMVFair
- + BikesFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Choices MatterFair
Comparable games
Zombie Driver HD 2012 · $830k 
Hot Shot Burn 2020 · $63k 
Fishermurs 2017 · $19k 
Practical Shooting Simulator 2021 · EA · $7.2k 
Slot Shots Pinball Collection 2022 · $7.2k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Zombie Driver HD | older | $9.99 | 2,770 84% | 83k | $830k (exactly $830,169) | Exor Studios |
| | Hot Shot Burn | older | $14.99 | 140 90% | 4.2k | $63k (exactly $62,958) | Artifex Mundi |
| | Fishermurs | older | $4.99 | 127 67% | 3.8k | $19k (exactly $19,012) | Reward Hunters |
| | Practical Shooting Simulator | · EA older | $29.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $7.2k (exactly $7,198) | 269th lab games softworks |
| | Slot Shots Pinball Collection | older | $9.99 | 24 95% | 720 | $7.2k (exactly $7,193) | Pinblend Studios |
 | Brendan Keogh's Putting Challenge | older | $5.99 | 30 96% | 900 | $5.4k (exactly $5,391) | Brendan Keogh |
 | Dense forest | older | $9.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) | Gamesforgames |
 | Public Land Hunter | older | $3.99 | 33 96% | 990 | $4.0k (exactly $3,950) | Toft Games |
 | Ultrazone | older | $9.99 | 13 76% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | Gamesforgames |
 | Just Move Fall Dungeon Endless Abyss | $15.99 | 8 50% | 240 | $3.8k (exactly $3,838) | daminggede | |
 | Strikers 1945 3 | $9.99 | 7 71% | 210 | $2.1k (exactly $2,098) | Zerodiv | |
 | Carpoon | $4.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $1.6k (exactly $1,647) | Tom Arnold | |
 | Samurai Ace | $9.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) | Zerodiv | |
 | ICE TENNIS | $5.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $180 (exactly $180) | Park Yong-Pil | |
 | Robo | · EA | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Anton Vatchenko |
 | PongBall | $1.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $119 (exactly $119) | NerxStudio | |
 | Get Rich with Air Hockey! — Earn more coins with each hit. — | $2.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $90 (exactly $90) | 文さん/bunsan | |
 | Virtual Campus | $0.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $30 (exactly $30) | Virtual teacher | |
 | Billiard of Chaos | $8.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Zodiac GameLab |
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.