Games › Top-Down Shooter › Top-Down Shooter + Tower Defense
Should I ship a Tower Defense Top-Down Shooter?
Top-Down Shooter + Tower Defense
Of 88 developers who shipped a Tower Defense 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.. 113 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, ×1.3 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $60; 1 in 20 cleared $83k, ×176 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 113 games are announced against 53 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $599 (exactly $599) |
| Top 25% | $5.4k (exactly $5,396) |
| Top 5% | $83k (exactly $83,414) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 88 |
| Released games | 219 |
| Announced | 113 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 30% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Tower Defense
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Top-Down Shooter, Tower Defense; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Action, Combat
- 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, Stylized
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 4,107 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 37 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 113 games are announced against 53 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Top-Down Shooter with a different second tag, 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
X-Morph: Defense 2017 · $2.0M 
Taur 2020 · $1.5M 
Cluckmech Oasis 2024 · $922k 
Cavalry Girls 2023 · $675k 
Lumencraft 2023 · $651k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | X-Morph: Defense | older | $19.99 | 3,272 90% | 98k | $2.0M (exactly $1,962,218) | EXOR Studios |
| | Taur | older | $24.99 | 2,011 79% | 60k | $1.5M (exactly $1,507,647) | Echo Entertainment |
| | Cluckmech Oasis | older | $9.99 | 3,077 87% | 92k | $922k (exactly $922,177) | BlackLight |
| | Cavalry Girls | older | $11.99 | 1,877 88% | 56k | $675k (exactly $675,157) | 中子星游戏研究所 |
| | Lumencraft | older | $19.99 | 1,086 75% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | 2Dynamic Games |
 | Achilles: Survivor | $8.99 | 1,454 81% | 44k | $392k (exactly $392,144) | Dark Point Games | |
 | Yet Another Zombie Defense HD | older | $3.99 | 2,561 84% | 77k | $307k (exactly $306,552) | Awesome Games Studio |
 | Castle Of Alchemists | $14.99 | 618 80% | 19k | $278k (exactly $277,915) | Team Machiavelli | |
 | Ultimate Zombie Defense | older | $4.99 | 1,408 86% | 42k | $211k (exactly $210,778) | Terror Dog Studio |
 | Guns n Zombies | older | $7.99 | 790 68% | 24k | $189k (exactly $189,363) | Krealit |
 | Keep Her Safe | · EA | $9.99 | 382 97% | 11k | $114k (exactly $114,485) | Gugu Studio |
 | 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 | |
 | Ash & Adam's Existential Treads | $6.99 | 340 92% | 10k | $71k (exactly $71,298) | Ash & Adam's Games | |
 | Artificial Extinction 2 | $19.99 | 113 77% | 3.4k | $68k (exactly $67,766) | 100Hr Games Inc | |
 | MORSE | $13.99 | 124 93% | 3.7k | $52k (exactly $52,043) | ALJO Games | |
 | Antivirus Girl | $7.99 | 169 88% | 5.1k | $41k (exactly $40,509) | Chowbie | |
 | Kritter: Defend Together | $9.99 | 109 86% | 3.3k | $33k (exactly $32,667) | LJF Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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