First Person Shooters: A Classic Genre

First-person shooters have come a long way since their ground-breaking debut with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992, which established the foundational elements of the genre that would revolutionise gaming¹. Through the eyes of the protagonist, players experienced immersive gun-based combat that would set the standard for decades to come. The subsequent release of Doom in 1993 was so influential that for years, games in this genre were simply known as "Doom clones," highlighting its massive impact on the gaming industry¹.

The enduring appeal of FPS games lies in their combination of fast-paced combat, dynamic firefights, and immersive first-person perspective. These games typically offer players a vast arsenal of weapons, realistic physics, and sophisticated 3D environments that create an unparalleled sense of presence in the game world¹. The genre has continuously pushed technological boundaries, from early innovations in 3D graphics to modern advances in lighting, particle effects, and realistic combat mechanics.

In recent years, the FPS market has become one of the most saturated genres in gaming, dominated by major titles like Call of Duty, Counter Strike, and Valorant². However, this saturation has created an interesting dynamic in the Steam marketplace, where numerous innovative indie and AA studios are crafting unique FPS experiences that often go unnoticed by the mainstream gaming audience². These smaller developers are finding creative ways to stand out, whether through unique mechanics, distinctive art styles, or novel gameplay combinations, such as Metal: Hellsinger's rhythm-based shooting or STRAFTAT's retro-inspired arenas².

So today we're going to dive into the Steam data once again and analyse the marketplace of first-person shooters, how they have performed in recent years, and what patterns indies could take advantage of. 

Sometimes Tags Just Suck

Here at Game Oracle we often start our analysis by first identifying a cohort of games we're interested in and then we compare that cohort to the rest of Steam. The aim is to try and understand the performance of that corner of the market and what makes those games tick. To achieve this we often use Steam's 'user-defined tags', although some of the time this is fine, other times tags just...kind of suck. With the analysis of first-person shooters the problem of tags reared its ugly head again.

We started with the obvious "FPS" tag, but found that titles like Car For Sale Simulator 2023, Kebab Chefs! - Restaurant Simulator, and Gym Simulator 24 have all been tagged as "FPS" which is clearly misleading. We tried variations of different tags like "First-Person" combined with the array of "Shooter" tags on Steam, but we found the cohort was still polluted with irrelevant titles. Worse still, is that we run the risk of excluding vitally important titles that simply haven't been tagged as we expect.

The problem of uninformative tags is well known. Steam's tag system has faced significant challenges with intentional mistagging of games. This issue manifests in several ways, from humorous misclassifications to potentially manipulative practices. Games have been found with clearly inappropriate tags - for instance, racing games tagged as "hentai" and "LGBTQ+," while Elden Ring received the ironic tag "calming"³. Steam has implemented several measures to combat tag abuse, but the problem still appears to persist⁴.

We have our own solution to the problem using nearest neighbourhood search of our Steam marketplace map. Our Steam Map is a statistical model of the whole Steam marketplace that conceptualises how similar games are based on their description, meta tags, and images. The TLDR of this approach is, we can choose a game title or summarise a game description and then use our software to search for games closest to that title or description. You can do this yourself using our Data Explorer tool.

So rather than banging our head against a wall trying to get tags to work, we simply used an "anchor" title to construct our cohort. One of the universally defining titles of the genre is Call of Duty (COD), so we simply constructed a cohort of the 5000 games most similar to COD. The results speak for themselves in the graph below:

The left hand side of the above graph shows how tag search introduces a lot of noise into our data. The games included span many possibly irrelevant genres - for example we know from experience that the top right of the map is predominantly 2D platformers and the bottom of the map from this perspective consists of horror co-op titles like Phasmaphobia and Lethal Company; not really what we're looking for.

Compare this to the right hand side of the above plot and we get a concentrated cohort of games consisting of what appears to be 3 tightly coupled clusters. When we're analysing a particular corner of the market, this is what we want. We want to be confident that the games we're investigating are truly 'similar' and reflect the kind of game we have in mind - in this case, that game is COD.

A Saturated FPS Market?

An immediate question that might pop into mind is "if you can map the market 'saturation' then just how saturated are FPS games similar to COD?". Well, we can see from the graph above that our cohort sits in a dense red region of the map. We can go a step further and quantify saturatio" using our bespoke saturation score. For each game on Steam we look at how close the 100 most similar titles are and score each game between 0 and 10, with an average of about 3.1. Games with lots of closely related titles have a higher score i.e. they exist in a more saturated market, whereas titles with lots of 'space' between them and their neighbours are in a less saturated corner of the market.

The plot below shows the distribution in market saturation score when comparing our COD-like cohort to the rest of Steam. We can see that the distribution is tighter - meaning games in our cohort have a narrower range of saturation scores, and the average saturation score is higher for our cohort compared to all other titles on Steam. This suggests that warnings regarding the saturation of the FPS market are not unreasonable^5,6.

How Well Have FPS Titles Performed?

So we know the market is saturated, but how has that impacted games in recent history? We decided to narrow down our cohort and focus on titles released in 2024 that have been on the market for at least 6 months, giving them ample time to accrue reviews and sales. As before, we will compare them to all other titles on Steam but applying the same time constraints - in total this gave us 316 COD-like titles and 10,363 other Steam titles for comparison.

In the plots below we have visualised their number of copies sold and their initial listing price. On average COD-like games sold around 290 copies compared to all other types of games on Steam which averaged around 390 copies. This is despite the fact that games in our cohort are on average priced around $2 higher than other titles on Steam.

So what are the chances of finding success in this space? Here at Game Oracle we think sensible and obtainable goals will prevent burnout and disappointment, allowing developers to focus on small continuous growth that will lead to more releases and a greater chance of success. With this in mind we often argue that observing how many games sell at least 1000 copies is a good start for first time indies. This sales target is an indicator of some monetary return without unrealistic expectations of being an overnight millionaire.

In the table below we have summarised the percentage of games in 2024, with at least 6 months of sales under their belts, that reached critical thresholds of estimated copies sold:

COD-Like Games	All Games	Indies Only
>= 1000	32.2%	28.2%
>= 10,000	12.7%	8.9%
>= 100,000	5.7%	2.8%
>= 1,000,000	2.2%	<1%
All Other Titles on Steam
>= 1000	27.0%	23.4%
>= 10,000	7.9%	5.5%
>= 100,000	1.8%	<1%
>= 1,000,000	<1%	<1%

Surprisingly, the percentage of games that sell at least 1000 copies is about 5% higher for COD-like titles compared to the rest of Steam. In fact, across all thresholds, the percentage of games hitting significant benchmarks is higher. How can this be the case when we saw that, on average, these first person shooters earn less than other titles on Steam?

Well the answer lies in how the data is distributed (see the plot below). If we plot the number of copies sold as a histogram (putting our data into groups based on copies sold) and look at the number of games in each group, we see that, relatively, the sales distribution in our cohort has a longer tail.

What does this mean? Although COD-like games on average sell less than other types of games on Steam, when they do find success their likelihood of exceeding one of the above thresholds is higher. This is likely explained by the higher price point for these games we saw earlier. So your chances of finding success with a COD-like game is not necessarily higher, but if you do build a successful game your sales potential appears to exceed what is expected amongst other genres.

Themes That Correlate with Higher Median Estimated Sales

So what exactly do you need to stand out in this crowded market to be one of the lucky few that exceed the thresholds we defined above. It goes without question that the standard minimum requirements still apply, that is:

• A solid hook or game play mechanic that resonates with players - your game has to be fun!
• A polished game with minimal bugs and great value for money
• A marketing strategy that is aligned with your audience

But apart from the above, we did see some trends in the games released in 2024 that suggest certain mechanics, features, or subjects are aligning with what customers want right now. It's time for tags to redeem themselves! We looked at the most common tags within our cohort and the median estimated revenue associated with each. In the plot below we have shown this as a bar graph with the user defined tag on the Y-axis and the median revenue estimated on the X-axis. Tags are ordered from highest median estimated sales to lowest, and here we show the top 10 tags:

 

A number of titles like Borrowhelen, Exosuit, and Relentless Frontier show an appetite for the retro Doom/Wolfenstein 2.5D aesthetic. The other common trend is games with a challenging puzzle dynamic,  a rich and wacky story arc, or a crazy psychedelic art style. Innovation and weirdness appears to be key, with players seemingly accepting experimental ideas and wild concepts. Some interesting games that stood out to us are:

Fallen Aces

Fallen Aces is a noir-themed first-person action game set in the fictional Switchblade City during 1938. You play as Michael "Top Mike" Thane, a retired boxer turned private investigator looking into the murders of the A.C.E.S., a group of masked vigilantes^7,8.

What makes it unique is its distinctive blend of immersive sim and boomer shooter elements, combined with a focus on brutal melee combat rather than traditional gunplay^7,8. Not to mention its beautiful comic book inspired graphics. The game features sprawling, non-linear levels that can be approached through stealth or combat, with an innovative combat system that lets players use virtually anything in the environment as a weapon; from lead pipes and bottles to gumball machines and even pigeons⁸. The visual style stands out with its hand-drawn comic book aesthetics reminiscent of Dick Tracy, complete with fully voiced comic strip cutscenes that tell the story between missions^7,9. Despite currently being in early access, the game has racked up over 5000 overwhelmingly positive reviews and estimated sales of up to 200,000 copies.

CULT VS GAL

CULT VS GAL is an old-school FPS set in an alternate timeline where players control Daigokuin Smasher Saki, a Japanese "gyaru" dispatched by the Imperial Army to take down a dangerous religious cult called Galwoya¹⁰. What makes it unique is its distinctive blend of classic DOOM-style gameplay with Japanese pop culture, featuring a gyaru protagonist who contrasts sharply with the game's dark themes. The game combines brutal combat mechanics with quirky personality; when Saki decapitates enemies with her machete, she flips double middle fingers and becomes temporarily invincible. Players navigate through labyrinth-like facilities, using various weapons from handguns to shotguns, while facing enemies who employ suicide-bomb attacks and chainsaws. The game features four difficulty levels and includes narrative elements through conversations between Saki and her serious military operator, creating an entertaining contrast between her gyaru personality and the grim mission at hand¹⁰. Developed by Crush-vAdin, the team behind HAZAMA_QUEEN, the game was released in May 2024 and has since received 150 very positive reviews.

Buckshot Roulette

Buckshot Roulette is a first-person tabletop horror game where players engage in a deadly game of Russian roulette using a 12-gauge shotgun against a mysterious entity known as "The Dealer" in an underground nightclub^11,12. What makes it unique is its clever twist on the Russian roulette concept combined with strategic item management. Players navigate through three increasingly difficult rounds where they can use various items like handcuffs, magnifying glasses, cigarettes, and beer cans to manipulate the odds in their favour. The game features a tense atmosphere where each decision carries weight, as players must carefully calculate their odds of survival while managing their limited lives (represented by defibrillator charges). After winning, players can test their luck in a "Double or Nothing" mode for increased rewards¹³. The game's grimy aesthetic, pulsing underground club atmosphere, and the unsettling presence of the Dealer create a uniquely atmospheric experience that transforms a simple concept into a strategic horror game^14,15. Buckshot Roulette has been a blockbuster with over 75,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews! 

VLADiK BRUTAL

VLADiK BRUTAL is a first-person shooter set in a dystopian Eastern European nation where players take on the role of Vlad, a prisoner fighting against a paranoid dictator who controls the population through microchips and brutal force^18,19. What makes it unique is that it's an impressive solo-developed passion project that combines Half-Life-inspired gameplay mechanics with distinctly Eastern European aesthetics and an ultra-violent combat system²⁰. The game features 12 different weapons, a physics-based combat system with detailed gore and dismemberment, and sprawling levels filled with puzzles and secrets¹⁹. Players navigate through various environments from underground metros to research facilities, fighting mutated monsters and military forces while uncovering the dark narrative about government experiments and control²¹. The game stands out for its brutal damage system, atmospheric storytelling, and the remarkable achievement of a single developer creating a fully-realised FPS experience that pays homage to classics while maintaining its own distinct identity²⁰. VLADiK BRUTAL launched on Steam in August 2024 and since then has racked up over 7000 very positive reviews, proving its success in delivering the fresh Half-Life experience many fans have been waiting for.

420BLAZEIT 2: GAME OF THE YEAR

The actual name is "420BLAZEIT 2: GAME OF THE YEAR -=Dank Dreams and Goated Memes=- [#wow/11 Like and Subscribe] Poggerz Edition"...I'm not kidding, and it somehow adds to the charm of this ridiculously fun game. 420BLAZEIT 2 is a first-person shooter where players take on the role of Agent 69, a retired operative pulled back into action to rescue stolen memes from the Illuminati across the Memeverse²². What makes it unique is its remarkable combination of genuinely polished, competent FPS gameplay mechanics with an overwhelming assault of early 2010s internet meme culture^23,24. The game features fluid movement and gunplay comparable to AAA titles, while bombarding players with comic sans text, rainbow effects, and nostalgic meme references during combat²⁵. Players navigate through 12 distinct missions using an arsenal of creative weapons, from standard firearms to an "oz-salt-rifle" that shouts Australian insults, while utilising power-ups like laxatives for explosive double jumps and focus pills for slow-motion kills^23,25. Despite its deliberately over-the-top presentation and self-aware humour, the game stands out for delivering a surprisingly well-crafted shooter experience that takes about 3 hours to complete and is priced at $10.99^22,25. It is fair to say 420BLAZEIT 2 has earnt its nearly 1000 overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Selaco

Selaco is a story-driven retro-inspired first-person shooter set in a massive space station that serves as humanity's last refuge after Earth's fall. Players control Dawn, an ACE Security Captain investigating the station's dark secrets when it suddenly comes under violent attack^26,27. What makes it unique is its extraordinary technical achievement; despite being built on the GZDoom engine, it delivers sophisticated modern gameplay features that seem impossible for its foundation, including advanced AI inspired by F.E.A.R. where enemies communicate and employ tactical strategies, a fully destructible environment with persistent damage, and high-quality visuals that blend retro and modern aesthetics^28,29. The game features 31 maps across six sprawling levels in its first chapter, with a deep combat system that rewards strategic thinking and exploration, complemented by professional voice acting and a full soundtrack³⁰. Currently in Early Access since it released in May 2024, it has racked up over 3000 very positive reviews. Selaco stands out for successfully merging the fast-paced action of classic shooters with modern gaming sensibilities, creating an experience that pays homage to its influences while establishing its own distinct identity^27,31.

ROBOBEAT

Robobeat is a rhythm-based first-person shooter roguelite where players control Ace, a bounty hunter tracking down a rogue robot showman named Frazzer through procedurally generated levels^32,33. Its innovative custom music system allows players to upload their own music files (.wav, .mp3, .ogg) and use an in-game editor to auto-generate beat patterns, enabling them to shoot, wall-run, slide, and perform parkour moves to their personal soundtrack^34,35. The game features a dual-wielding combat system where shooting on beat increases damage and builds combos, while offering various weapons and ability cards that can be collected during runs to create distinctive builds^36,37. Combat is complemented by fluid movement mechanics including wall-running, sliding, double jumping, bunny hopping, and grapple hook traversal, all of which must be synchronized with the music for maximum effectiveness³⁴. Developed solo by Simon Fredholm, the game combines cyberpunk aesthetics with EDM music and released in May 2024^33,37. Since its release Robobeat has received over 1000 overwhelmingly positive reviews.

BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3

Another insane title, "BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3: I OPENED A PORTAL TO HELL IN THE FAVELA TRYING TO REVIVE MIT AIA I NEED TO CLOSE IT" which we will just call "BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3". It is a fast-paced retro first-person shooter built on the id Tech 2 engine. Players take on the role of a Brazilian drug dealer who accidentally opens a portal to hell while attempting to resurrect Tim Maia, a legendary Brazilian funk musician, through a satanic ritual³⁸. It features a distinctly Brazilian identity with various cultural elements - gold-plated weapons decorated in Brazilian soccer team colours, health pickups in the form of pastel and sugarcane juice, and enemies ranging from possessed Brazilian singers to demonic truck clowns³⁸. Players navigate through 24 planned levels (17 currently available in Early Access) spanning across Rio de Janeiro, hell, and heaven, with classic Quake-style movement mechanics and rocket jumping used to discover secret areas³⁸. The game began as a weekend project that went viral in Brazil, leading to community support that helped fund its Steam release³⁸ but thank god it did, as it now sits at over 1000 overwhelmingly positive reviews that reflect the appreciation from its fan base. Currently available for about $2 during a special promotion, it includes cooperative and deathmatch modes for all maps, and even features a crossover level with Brazil's first FPS game, Incidente em Varginha^38,39. 

TLDR: If You Can Differentiate Then A Solid FPS Can Generate Strong Returns

The first-person shooter (FPS) market on Steam presents an interesting paradox that is demonstrated by games released in 2024. While FPS games generally sell fewer copies on average compared to other genres (290 vs 390), they demonstrate a higher potential for significant success. The data shows that FPS titles have a better chance of reaching key sales thresholds, with 32% selling at least 1000 copies and 5.7% selling 100,000 copies, compared to 27% and 1.8% respectively for other genres. This suggests that while the market is indeed saturated, there's still room for success with the right approach.

The analysis reveals several promising trends for developers looking to stand out in the FPS space. Games that incorporate puzzle elements, psychedelic visuals, or rich storytelling tend to perform better in terms of median sales. This is evidenced by successful titles like Fallen Aces, Buckshot Roulette, and BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3, which have all found their niche by offering unique twists on the traditional FPS formula. The key to success appears to lie in differentiation through innovative mechanics, distinctive art styles, or novel gameplay combinations, rather than attempting to compete directly with major titles in the traditional FPS space.

References

1. Wikipedia | First-person shooter
2. GameRant | 17 Great First-Person Shooters On Steam That Deserve More Attention
3. Reddit | Can we please stop with the intentional mistagging of games like this? It's not funny or useful.
4. Rock Paper Shotgun | Better? Maybe? - You Can Now Report Abusive Steam Tags
5. Naavik | The State of the FPS Market
6. The Outerhaven | Editorial: I Am Sick of First-Person Shooters
7. SuperJump | Fallen Aces: Early Access Review
8. Kotaku | New PC Game Is Basically Mafia-Themed Bioshock And It's Only $10
9. Gamatsu | Fallen Aces Launches in Early Access
10. Automaton | DOOM-like Japanese FPS is about a “gal” massacring cult members while flipping them off
11. Game8 | Buckshot Roulette Gameplay and Story Info | Everything We Know So Far
12. Wikipedia | Buckshot Roulette
13. God Is A Geek Buckshot Roulette Review
14. Steam Deck HQ | Buckshot Roulette
15. Instant Gaming | Buckshot Roulette
16. Hardcore Gamer | Review: Buckshot Roulette
17. Use A Potion | Buckshot Roulette Review
18. MobyGames | VLADiK BRUTAL
19. Moddb | RELEASE OF THE GAME “VLADIK BRUTAL”
20. ScreenRant | This 9/10 Steam Game Is The Closest Thing To Half-Life 3
21. RPGHQ | VLADiK BRUTAL
22. Game 8 | 420BLAZEIT 2 Review
23. QualBert | 420BLAZEIT 2 PC Review
24. CheckPoint Gaming | 420BLAZEIT 2 Review – Double rainbows all the way
25. Hooked Gamers | 420BLAZEIT 2
26. Game8 | Selaco Gameplay and Story Info | Everything We Know So Far
27. CNET | Selaco Is a Retro FPS Mixing Old-School Doom Vibes With Modern Call of Duty Shooting
28. Instant Gaming | Selaco
29. EuroGamer | Selaco is an extraordinary shooter that does backflips with the Doom engine
30. TechRaptor | Selaco Sets a New Standard for the FPS Genre
31. GameRant | New Steam FPS Game is Getting Rave Reviews
32. TSA | Robobeat Review
33. Kwalee | Robobeat
34. Robobeatgame.com | Robobeat
35. Nettos Game Room | Robobeat Review
36. Entertainium | Robobeat Review
37. CGMag Online | Robotbeat Review
38. Quaddicted Discussions | BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3: I OPENED A PORTAL TO HELL IN THE FAVELA TRYING TO REVIVE TIM MAIA I NEED TO CLOSE IT (my game on the quake engine got viral on brazil for some reason i'm really confused, a million views on twitter)
39. Steam Store | BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3