Do I ship it?

Games › Survival › Survival + Top-Down Shooter

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Top-Down Shooter Survival game?

Survival + Top-Down Shooter

Of 273 developers who shipped a Top-Down Shooter Survival 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.. 380 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $390 in the last 2 years and $480 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 155 developers shipped in the last year and 380 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 10% on the market, 380 announced, ×2.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Survival + Top-Down Shooter
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 273
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.9k → $716 → $628 → $537 → $898 → $629 → $299 (still earning) → $210 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Survival + Top-Down Shooter: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 273
Bottom 30% $110 (exactly $110)
Median $390 (exactly $390)
Top 25% $3.2k (exactly $3,229)
Top 5% $101k (exactly $101,322)
Developers, 2 yr 273
Released games 715
Announced 380
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 down 10% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Survival
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

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Survival, Top-Down Shooter; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Roguelite
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 118,689 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $110, median $390, 1 in 4 over $3.2k, 1 in 20 over $100k.

3 in 10 developers made under $110. 9 in 10 of the 132 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 380 games are announced against 155 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Survival with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds14 devs · median $74k · 10 announced
  2. + Social DeductionFair31 devs · median $6.2k · 35 announced
  3. + Word GameFair22 devs · median $2.1k · 29 announced
  4. + CatsFair33 devs · median $1.2k · 34 announced
  5. + CollectathonFair77 devs · median $1.0k · 84 announced
  6. + IdlerFair96 devs · median $836 · 99 announced
  7. + Auto BattlerFair79 devs · median $807 · 90 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair101 devs · median $599 · 130 announced
  9. + DogsFair20 devs · median $535 · 19 announced
  10. + Martial ArtsLong shot19 devs · median $419 · 17 announced
  11. + Boomer ShooterLong shot39 devs · median $359 · 32 announced
  12. + DiplomacyPoor odds16 devs · median $100k · 28 announced

All 234 pairs on the Survival page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Escape From Duckov 2025 · $45M Aliens: Dark Descent 2023 · $18M Brotato 2023 · $17M HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition 2015 · $15M Yet Another Zombie Survivors 2026 · $6.4M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Escape From Duckov $17.99 83,826 85% 2.5M $45M (exactly $45,240,892) Team Soda
Aliens: Dark Descent older $39.99 15,310 87% 459k $18M (exactly $18,367,407) Tindalos Interactive
Brotato older $4.99 111,407 95% 3.3M $17M (exactly $16,677,628) Blobfish
HELLDIVERS™ Dive Harder Edition older $19.99 25,663 90% 770k $15M (exactly $15,390,101) Arrowhead Game Studios
Yet Another Zombie Survivors $14.99 14,123 91% 424k $6.4M (exactly $6,351,113) Awesome Games Studio
Hatred older $5.99 25,770 84% 773k $4.6M (exactly $4,630,869) Destructive Creations
The Last Stand: Aftermath older $24.99 6,096 80% 183k $4.6M (exactly $4,570,171) Con Artist Games
20 Minutes Till Dawn older $4.99 27,872 90% 836k $4.2M (exactly $4,172,438) flanne
How to Survive 2 older $14.99 8,641 69% 259k $3.9M (exactly $3,885,858) Eko Software
Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos $12.99 6,281 68% 188k $2.4M (exactly $2,447,706) NANOO
Pathogenic $9.99 4,145 92% 124k $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) Aberrant Labs
R.I.P. - Reincarnation Insurance Program $14.99 2,727 76% 82k $1.2M (exactly $1,226,332) WarmCore Studio
Arms of God · EA $11.50 1,871 88% 56k $645k (exactly $645,495) Dark Jay Studio
TerraTech Legion $9.99 2,109 81% 63k $632k (exactly $632,067) Payload Studios
Section 13 $19.99 770 70% 23k $462k (exactly $461,769) Ocean Drive Studio, Inc.
FatalZone $6.99 2,125 66% 64k $446k (exactly $445,612) Midhard Games
Crafty Survivors $11.99 712 83% 21k $256k (exactly $256,106) Flannel Bear Games

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.