Do I ship it?

Games › Mechanics › Looter Shooter

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Looter Shooter?

Looter Shooter

Of 365 developers who shipped a Looter 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.. 668 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $900, ×0.6 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150. 668 games are announced against 201 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper, while revenue is up 50% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 50% on the market, 668 announced, ×3.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Looter Shooter
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 365
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.0k → $1.3k → $600 → $1.1k → $899 → $2.3k → $599 (still earning) → $449 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Looter Shooter: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 365
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $899 (exactly $899)
Top 25% $15k (exactly $15,467)
Top 5% $1.8M (exactly $1,835,226)
Developers, 2 yr 365
Released games 943
Announced 668
Effort 8 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $6.99

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 50% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.

Looter Shooter
effort 8 / 10 · low · online co-op and a loot economy on top of a shooter

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
Looter Shooter
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 71% positive over 320,929 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $900, 1 in 4 over $15k, 1 in 20 over $1.8M.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 198 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 668 games are announced against 201 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Looter Shooter

22 pairs with a settingwith: mechanics · settings · any
  1. Looter Shooter + Mechs Fair $219k 13 devs
  2. Looter Shooter + Dystopian Poor odds $10k 14 devs
  3. Looter Shooter + Robots Poor odds $6.0k 23 devs
  4. Looter Shooter + Post-apocalyptic Poor odds $5.5k 80 devs
  5. Looter Shooter + Sci-fi Poor odds $3.7k 91 devs
  6. Looter Shooter + Military Poor odds $3.1k 30 devs
  7. Looter Shooter + Female Protagonist Poor odds $1.9k 14 devs
  8. Looter Shooter + Cyberpunk Poor odds $1.6k 22 devs
  9. Looter Shooter + Zombies Poor odds $1.5k 60 devs
  10. Looter Shooter + Horror Poor odds $1.5k 34 devs
  11. Looter Shooter + Space Poor odds $1.2k 45 devs
  12. Looter Shooter + War Poor odds $899 14 devs
  13. Looter Shooter + Dark Fantasy Poor odds $839 12 devs
  14. Looter Shooter + Demons Poor odds $657 9 devs
  15. Looter Shooter + Magic Poor odds $628 19 devs
  16. Looter Shooter + Futuristic Poor odds $599 38 devs
  17. Looter Shooter + Aliens Poor odds $539 21 devs
  18. Looter Shooter + Psychological Horror Poor odds $180 11 devs
  19. Looter Shooter + Fantasy Dead $479 46 devs
  20. Looter Shooter + Medieval Dead $449 12 devs
  21. Looter Shooter + Mystery Dead $300 11 devs
  22. Looter Shooter + Nature Dead $299 15 devs
Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Deep Rock Galactic 2020 · $273M Borderlands 3 2020 · $230M Risk of Rain 2 2020 · $180M PAYDAY 2 2013 · $134M Borderlands 2 2012 · $126M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Deep Rock Galactic older $29.99 303,142 97% 9.1M $273M (exactly $272,736,857) Ghost Ship Games
Borderlands 3 older $59.99 127,847 81% 3.8M $230M (exactly $230,086,246) Gearbox Software
Risk of Rain 2 older $24.99 240,001 93% 7.2M $180M (exactly $179,928,750) Hopoo Games
PAYDAY 2 older $9.99 445,531 89% 13M $134M (exactly $133,525,641) OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetr… (OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetrack Games)
Borderlands 2 older $19.99 210,364 89% 6.3M $126M (exactly $126,155,291) Gearbox Software, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (L… (Gearbox Software, Aspyr (Mac), Aspyr (Linux))
Borderlands 4 $69.99 57,874 59% 1.7M $122M (exactly $121,518,038) Gearbox Software
Escape from Tarkov $49.99 55,824 49% 1.7M $84M (exactly $83,719,253) Battlestate Games
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Breakpoint older $59.99 44,635 72% 1.3M $80M (exactly $80,329,610) Ubisoft Paris
REMNANT II® older $49.99 46,219 82% 1.4M $69M (exactly $69,314,634) Gunfire Games
Tom Clancy’s The Division™ older $29.99 76,985 72% 2.3M $69M (exactly $69,263,404) Massive Entertainment
Escape From Duckov $17.99 83,826 85% 2.5M $45M (exactly $45,240,892) Team Soda
Deadside $24.99 34,560 76% 1.0M $26M (exactly $25,909,632) Bad Pixel
The Forever Winter · EA $29.99 21,376 68% 641k $19M (exactly $19,231,987) Fun Dog Studios
No More Room in Hell 2 $29.99 16,725 62% 502k $15M (exactly $15,047,482) Torn Banner Studios
Deadzone: Rogue $24.99 15,041 82% 451k $11M (exactly $11,276,238) Prophecy Games
ZERO Sievert $19.99 14,378 84% 431k $8.6M (exactly $8,622,487) CABO Studio
John Carpenter's Toxic Commando $39.99 6,274 72% 188k $7.5M (exactly $7,526,918) Saber Interactive
Magicraft $15.99 15,051 92% 452k $7.2M (exactly $7,219,965) Wave Games

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