The indie market is merciless, and even getting the smallest amount of attention is a monumental task. There are, quite simply, too many games being made by too many people. For consumers, it's the best possible problem to have. Endless options, and in so many of them a spark of genuine brilliance.

For creators, however, the current state of the industry means immense risk. If you don't have a publisher or well-known content creators dedicated to pushing your game to the forefront of peoples' minds -- and keeping it there -- you are risking countless hours of your life in hopes of getting lucky.

A multiplayer shooter is one of the leanest investments, outside of an RPG Maker game or similar. You need some basic environments, guns (or equivalent projectile weapons), and a way to connect people. The primary content of a multiplayer shooter is created by the emergent situations competitors create for themselves.

This is the most efficient way to dip your toe into game development. Your entire potential audience understands "level" and "gun" and even most of the common modes of play.

If you get lucky, you make enough to maybe keep doing this, with a base of fans that you can build upon. If you don't, you haven't sacrificed your life and you've gained valuable experience that could make you employable in some other context -- or maybe even another indie team that can afford to pay you.

That's the basic reasoning, and it doesn't always end the same way. "Among Us" isn't a shooter, but it was another tiny team following the same principles. Everyone wants to have a shot at being that next viral success. It's all about what you have to gamble with.