Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Beat 'em up

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Beat 'em up?

PvE + Beat 'em up

Of 121 developers who shipped a PvE Beat 'em up 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.. 220 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $420 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 64 developers shipped in the last year and 220 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.7 times the market baseline, revenue down 55% on the market, 220 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Beat 'em up
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 121
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $89 → $239 → $449 → $359 → $987 → $359 → $449 (still earning) → $299 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Beat 'em up: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 121
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $419 (exactly $419)
Top 25% $2.9k (exactly $2,936)
Top 5% $748k (exactly $748,436)
Developers, 2 yr 121
Released games 349
Announced 220
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $5.99

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 55% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 23%, 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
Beat 'em up
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
PvE, Beat 'em up; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Hack and Slash, Arcade
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Side Scroller
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 31,911 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 $420, 1 in 4 over $2.9k, 1 in 20 over $740k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 68 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 220 games are announced against 64 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 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

Dead as Disco 2026 · EA · $9.3M SD GUNDAM BATTLE ALLIANCE 2022 · $8.8M Rotwood 2026 · $6.7M Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2021 · $6.5M Lost Castle / 失落城堡 2016 · $5.5M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Dead as Disco · EA $24.99 12,354 96% 371k $9.3M (exactly $9,261,794) Brain Jar Games, Inc.
SD GUNDAM BATTLE ALLIANCE older $59.99 4,892 62% 147k $8.8M (exactly $8,804,132) ARTDINK
Rotwood $29.99 7,459 74% 224k $6.7M (exactly $6,710,862) Klei Entertainment
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl older $49.99 4,311 75% 129k $6.5M (exactly $6,465,207) Ludosity, Fair Play Labs
Lost Castle / 失落城堡 older $9.99 18,417 87% 553k $5.5M (exactly $5,519,575) Hunter Studio
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion $69.99 1,838 63% 55k $3.9M (exactly $3,859,249) Marvelous Inc.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate $29.99 4,143 83% 124k $3.7M (exactly $3,727,457) Super Evil Megacorp
PATAPON 1+2 REPLAY $29.99 2,091 83% 63k $1.9M (exactly $1,881,273) SAS CO.,LTD.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 older $49.99 1,013 81% 30k $1.5M (exactly $1,519,196) Fair Play Labs
Alien Hominid Invasion older $19.99 1,572 88% 47k $943k (exactly $942,728) The Behemoth
Towerborne $24.99 1,057 69% 32k $792k (exactly $792,433) Stoic
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind $34.99 713 65% 21k $748k (exactly $748,436) Digital Eclipse
Beyond Sandbox · EA $19.99 1,223 39% 37k $733k (exactly $733,433) Atlas XR
Big Helmet Heroes $24.99 678 78% 20k $508k (exactly $508,297) Exalted Studio
STAR WARS™: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles™ $19.99 355 78% 11k $213k (exactly $212,893) Aspyr

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