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Should I ship a PvP Board Game?
PvP + Board Game
Of 286 developers who shipped a PvP Board 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.. 393 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.3 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $89. 393 games are announced against 184 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper, while revenue is up 35% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $89 (exactly $89) |
|---|---|
| Median | $450 (exactly $450) |
| Top 25% | $4.6k (exactly $4,585) |
| Top 5% | $85k (exactly $85,472) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 286 |
| Released games | 863 |
| Announced | 393 |
| Effort | 8 / 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 up 35% on the market, supply 70% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 25%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- PvP
- effort 8 / 10 · low · authoritative servers, latency compensation, cheating
- Board Game
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- PvP, Board Game; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Tabletop, Card Game
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 58,382 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $89. 9 in 10 of the 151 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 393 games are announced against 184 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvP with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + BaseballFair
- + TransportationFair
- + BasketballFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BikesFair
- + GolfFair
- + World War IFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + TennisLong shot
- + TypingLong shot
- + SpellingLong shot
Comparable games
UNO 2017 · $13M 
Liar's Bar 2024 · EA · $10M 
For The King II 2023 · $9.5M 
Armello 2015 · $8.3M 
Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition (Classic) 2017 · $6.4M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | UNO | older | $9.99 | 42,019 70% | 1.3M | $13M (exactly $12,593,094) | Ubisoft Entertainment |
| | Liar's Bar | · EA | $6.99 | 48,708 89% | 1.5M | $10M (exactly $10,214,068) | Curve Animation |
| | For The King II | older | $24.99 | 12,708 71% | 381k | $9.5M (exactly $9,527,188) | IronOak Games |
| | Armello | older | $24.99 | 11,013 82% | 330k | $8.3M (exactly $8,256,446) | League of Geeks |
| | Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition (Classic) | older | $29.99 | 7,077 78% | 212k | $6.4M (exactly $6,367,177) | Cyanide Studios |
 | Wingspan | older | $19.99 | 9,807 94% | 294k | $5.9M (exactly $5,881,258) | Monster Couch |
 | Blood Bowl 3 | older | $29.99 | 3,940 51% | 118k | $3.5M (exactly $3,544,818) | Cyanide Studio |
 | Terraforming Mars | older | $19.99 | 5,194 71% | 156k | $3.1M (exactly $3,114,842) | Artefacts Studio |
 | Football, Tactics & Glory | older | $24.99 | 3,998 87% | 120k | $3.0M (exactly $2,997,301) | Creoteam |
 | 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel | older | $11.99 | 8,097 96% | 243k | $2.9M (exactly $2,912,491) | Conor Petersen, Thunkspace, LLC |
 | Guilty as Sock! | $5.50 | 4,836 89% | 145k | $798k (exactly $797,940) | Demon Max | |
 | Supercar Collection Simulator | $12.99 | 1,528 85% | 46k | $595k (exactly $595,462) | Kiki Games | |
 | Ark Nova | $22.99 | 825 94% | 25k | $569k (exactly $569,002) | Dire Wolf | |
 | NEW MONOPOLY® | $29.99 | 531 36% | 16k | $478k (exactly $477,741) | UBISOFT, Engine Software | |
 | The Jackbox Party Pack 11 | $29.99 | 419 93% | 13k | $377k (exactly $376,974) | Jackbox Games, Inc. | |
 | Clank! | $22.99 | 542 92% | 16k | $374k (exactly $373,817) | Dire Wolf | |
 | HEART of CROWN Online | $29.99 | 412 84% | 12k | $371k (exactly $370,676) | illuCalab, FLIPFLOPs, quziralab. | |
 | DOKAPON! Sword of Fury | $24.99 | 354 85% | 11k | $265k (exactly $265,394) | Sting | |
 | Talisman: Digital 5th Edition | $29.99 | 227 70% | 6.8k | $204k (exactly $204,232) | Nomad Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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