Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + 6DOF

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE 6DOF game?

PvE + 6DOF

Of 41 developers who shipped a PvE 6DOF 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.. 72 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $320k, ×517 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 72 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.7 times the market baseline, revenue down 25% on the market, 72 announced, ×3.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + 6DOF
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 41
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.7k → $1.7k → $449 → $14k → $599 → $1.5k → $178 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + 6DOF: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 41
Bottom 30% $178 (exactly $178)
Median $450 (exactly $450)
Top 25% $1.1k (exactly $1,078)
Top 5% $325k (exactly $324,620)
Developers, 2 yr 41
Released games 120
Announced 72
Effort 6 / 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 down 25% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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.

PvE
effort 6 / 10 · low · online co-op against AI still needs the whole netcode stack
6DOF
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium 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
PvE, 6DOF; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Physics
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with VR, First-Person, Realistic
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 80% positive over 2,556 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $450, 1 in 4 over $1.0k, 1 in 20 over $320k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. Nearly all of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 72 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Dating SimFair17 devs · median $2.4k · 23 announced
  2. + IdlerFair161 devs · median $1.0k · 229 announced
  3. + MinigamesFair9 devs · median $899 · 14 announced
  4. + TypingFair23 devs · median $719 · 27 announced
  5. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds44 devs · median $163k · 97 announced
  6. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds50 devs · median $85k · 120 announced
  7. + HeistPoor odds18 devs · median $30k · 50 announced
  8. + MMORPGPoor odds34 devs · median $25k · 248 announced
  9. + Real-TimePoor odds10 devs · median $20k · 24 announced
  10. + NavalPoor odds21 devs · median $11k · 59 announced
  11. + SpaceshipsPoor odds16 devs · median $6.3k · 20 announced
  12. + MarsPoor odds10 devs · median $6.3k · 13 announced

All 243 pairs on the PvE page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Arizona Sunshine® VR 2 2023 · $2.0M Bootstrap Island 2026 · $1.0M Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister 2022 · $357k Roboquest VR 2025 · $355k Zero Caliber 2 Remastered 2025 · $325k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Arizona Sunshine® VR 2 older $29.99 2,258 84% 68k $2.0M (exactly $2,031,523) Vertigo Games
Bootstrap Island $24.99 1,362 81% 41k $1.0M (exactly $1,021,091) Maru VR
Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister older $19.99 596 70% 18k $357k (exactly $357,421) Soul Assembly Ltd
Roboquest VR $29.99 395 87% 12k $355k (exactly $355,382) Flat2VR Studios, RyseUp Studios
Zero Caliber 2 Remastered $24.99 433 79% 13k $325k (exactly $324,620) XREAL Games
Guardians Frontline older $24.99 287 83% 8.6k $215k (exactly $215,164) VirtualAge
HordeZ older $16.99 373 83% 11k $190k (exactly $190,118) Zenz VR
Forest Doesn’t Care $13.99 251 65% 7.5k $105k (exactly $105,345) MOROZ GAMES
Skyworld older $14.99 229 79% 6.9k $103k (exactly $102,981) Vertigo Games, Wolfdog Interactive
Laptop Tycoon older $7.99 400 74% 12k $96k (exactly $95,880) Roastery Games
Alliance Peacefighter $18.99 56 83% 1.7k $32k (exactly $31,903) Urban Logic Games
Titan Isles $24.99 40 95% 1.2k $30k (exactly $29,988) Psytec Games Ltd
Th3_M1dday_L4dies $5.99 9 44% 270 $1.6k (exactly $1,617) nonhumans
Rogue Piñatas: VRmageddon $24.99 2 0% 60 $1.5k (exactly $1,499) Nerd Ninjas
Snooker Billiard $24.99 2 50% 60 $1.5k (exactly $1,499) DotStudio
RebreatheR $7.99 6 16% 180 $1.4k (exactly $1,438) mc_try

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