Games › Stealth › Stealth + Top-Down Shooter
Should I ship a Top-Down Shooter Stealth game?
Stealth + Top-Down Shooter
Of 25 developers who shipped a Top-Down Shooter Stealth game 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.. 56 more are announced, ×5.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $120k, ×202 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 56 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $269 (exactly $269) |
|---|---|
| Median | $628 (exactly $628) |
| Top 25% | $3.9k (exactly $3,897) |
| Top 5% | $127k (exactly $127,014) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 96 |
| Announced | 56 |
| 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 down 70% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Stealth
- 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
- Stealth, Top-Down Shooter; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Combat, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, Pixel Graphics, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 1,219 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $270. All of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Stealth with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Turn-Based CombatPoor odds
- + WargamePoor odds
- + DinosaursPoor odds
- + Gun CustomizationPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + WarPoor odds
Comparable games
| 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 |
| | Heat Signature | older | $14.99 | 6,849 94% | 205k | $3.1M (exactly $3,079,995) | Suspicious Developments |
| | Intravenous 2 | older | $19.99 | 4,069 95% | 122k | $2.4M (exactly $2,440,179) | Explosive Squat Games |
| | Intravenous | older | $19.99 | 2,872 91% | 86k | $1.7M (exactly $1,722,338) | Explosive Squat Games |
| | Endoparasitic | older | $9.99 | 2,928 93% | 88k | $878k (exactly $877,522) | Miziziziz |
| | Tunguska: The Visitation - Final Cut | older | $14.99 | 1,682 87% | 50k | $756k (exactly $756,395) | Rotorist Workshop |
| | METAL GEAR & METAL GEAR 2: Solid Snake | older | $19.99 | 775 83% | 23k | $465k (exactly $464,767) | KONAMI |
| | Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum | $12.99 | 839 98% | 25k | $327k (exactly $326,958) | nodayshalleraseyou | |
| | METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Vol.1 BONUS CONTENT | older | $59.99 | 125 63% | 3.8k | $225k (exactly $224,962) | KONAMI |
| | PROHIBEAST | $34.99 | 121 57% | 3.6k | $127k (exactly $127,014) | SUPER AC | |
| | Spy Drops | $14.99 | 93 63% | 2.8k | $42k (exactly $41,822) | Rainy Night Creations | |
| | Regulators | $14.99 | 35 100% | 1.1k | $16k (exactly $15,740) | Orangepixel | |
| | Time for Bed | $4.99 | 83 96% | 2.5k | $12k (exactly $12,425) | NERDY PENGUIN | |
| | The Zebra-Man! | $14.99 | 10 90% | 300 | $4.5k (exactly $4,497) | Zerouno Games, Thunder Zebra | |
| | Enemy Inside | · EA | $12.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.9k (exactly $3,897) | Six Ways Games |
| | Super Chaos | $5.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $2.3k (exactly $2,336) | Anodaxia | |
| | Moccoletti | $9.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $2.1k (exactly $2,098) | Consortium of Octopus | |
| | Stealth Syndicate | $3.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $958 (exactly $958) | Vincent Lopes-Vicente |
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.