Do I ship it?

Games › Vehicular Combat › Vehicular Combat + Aliens

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Alien Vehicular Combat game?

Vehicular Combat + Aliens

Of 20 developers who shipped an Alien Vehicular Combat 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.. 32 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $89 in the last 2 years and $120 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 9 developers shipped in the last year and 32 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.1 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 32 announced, ×3.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Vehicular Combat + Aliens
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 20
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $119 → $359 → $119 → $180 → $599 → $0 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Vehicular Combat + Aliens: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 20
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $89 (exactly $89)
Top 25% $300 (exactly $300)
Top 5% $11k (exactly $10,789)
Developers, 2 yr 20
Released games 62
Announced 32
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, 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 medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Vehicular Combat
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Aliens
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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
Vehicular Combat; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Shooter
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 1990's, 2D, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 73 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $89, 1 in 4 over $300, 1 in 20 over $10k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 32 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Vehicular Combat with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Looter ShooterFair11 devs · median $15k · 14 announced
  2. + BuildingPoor odds14 devs · median $303k · 40 announced
  3. + Online Co-OpPoor odds29 devs · median $62k · 75 announced
  4. + Co-opPoor odds38 devs · median $32k · 101 announced
  5. + HistoricalPoor odds16 devs · median $32k · 36 announced
  6. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $20k · 43 announced
  7. + Open WorldPoor odds45 devs · median $15k · 97 announced
  8. + ManagementPoor odds21 devs · median $13k · 36 announced
  9. + SandboxPoor odds25 devs · median $10k · 70 announced
  10. + Real Time TacticsPoor odds20 devs · median $9.6k · 50 announced
  11. + ModernPoor odds18 devs · median $8.6k · 25 announced
  12. + MechsPoor odds24 devs · median $4.8k · 52 announced

All 98 pairs on the Vehicular Combat page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II 2020 · $105M STAR WARS™ Battlefront 2020 · $3.1M Silica 2023 · EA · $2.7M Mugsters 2018 · $42k Star Control I and II 2017 · $20k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II older $39.99 87,494 88% 2.6M $105M (exactly $104,966,552) DICE
STAR WARS™ Battlefront older $19.99 5,190 79% 156k $3.1M (exactly $3,112,443) DICE
Silica · EA older $19.99 4,468 77% 134k $2.7M (exactly $2,679,460) Martin 'Dram' Melichárek
Mugsters older $19.99 70 67% 2.1k $42k (exactly $41,979) Reinkout Games
Star Control I and II older $3.99 164 83% 4.9k $20k (exactly $19,631) Toys for Bob
Void Source older $4.99 92 80% 2.8k $14k (exactly $13,772) Xitilon, Lovixsama
Space Dragons $9.99 36 83% 1.1k $11k (exactly $10,789) TEAM Black Hat Robot
Absolute Territory older $9.99 26 61% 780 $7.8k (exactly $7,792) Digitum Software
Galactic Wars EX older $7.99 23 78% 690 $5.5k (exactly $5,513) Volcano Bytes
Rush Rush Rally Reloaded older $11.99 13 100% 390 $4.7k (exactly $4,676) Senile Team
4番線 | Platform 4 $4.99 13 84% 390 $1.9k (exactly $1,946) MFC STUDIO, KOSEI YASUDA
Space Force Bargain Bin $4.99 4 100% 120 $599 (exactly $599) Sled Dog Games
The Last Earth Fighter $1.99 6 100% 180 $358 (exactly $358) Funora Studios
Traxion 3000 · EA $9.99 1 100% 30 $300 (exactly $300) Play With Fire UG
WARPED $4.99 2 100% 60 $299 (exactly $299) Starbound Studio
Galactic Warship · EA $5.99 1 100% 30 $180 (exactly $180) Box of Tricks Entertainment
Starship Destroyer $0.99 4 75% 120 $119 (exactly $119) North Star Studios
Blasteroids $0.99 3 100% 90 $89 (exactly $89) Crossy
Galactic Patrol $0.99 3 100% 90 $89 (exactly $89) Binx.tv

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