Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Bullet Time

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Bullet Time game?

PvE + Bullet Time

Of 70 developers who shipped a PvE Bullet Time 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.. 118 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 44 developers shipped in the last year and 118 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 70% on the market, 118 announced, ×2.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Bullet Time
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 70
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $208 → $628 → $599 → $449 → $2.3k → $959 → $150 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Bullet Time: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 70
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $297 (exactly $297)
Top 25% $2.2k (exactly $2,155)
Top 5% $94k (exactly $94,406)
Developers, 2 yr 70
Released games 187
Announced 118
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
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 down 70% on the market, supply 70% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 20%, 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
Bullet Time
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, Bullet Time; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Bullet Hell
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Stylized
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 51% positive over 18,682 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 $300, 1 in 4 over $2.1k, 1 in 20 over $94k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 34 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 118 games are announced against 44 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 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

Killing Floor 3 2025 · $20M Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister 2022 · $357k RAM: Random Access Mayhem 2025 · $275k Jackal 2026 · $268k Bulletstorm VR 2024 · $137k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Killing Floor 3 $39.99 16,493 46% 495k $20M (exactly $19,786,652) Tripwire Interactive
Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister older $19.99 596 70% 18k $357k (exactly $357,421) Soul Assembly Ltd
RAM: Random Access Mayhem $14.99 611 97% 18k $275k (exactly $274,767) Xylem Studios
Jackal $14.99 596 88% 18k $268k (exactly $268,021) Transhuman Design
Bulletstorm VR older $29.99 152 48% 4.6k $137k (exactly $136,754) Incuvo
Maze Mice $9.99 315 88% 9.5k $94k (exactly $94,406) TrampolineTales
UNYIELDER $24.99 117 62% 3.5k $88k (exactly $87,715) TrueWorld Studios
Plastic Battlegrounds · EA $9.99 281 89% 8.4k $84k (exactly $84,216) Simulated Minds
Oedo Trigger!! older $24.99 52 92% 1.6k $39k (exactly $38,984) CQC Software
Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever older $19.99 62 83% 1.9k $37k (exactly $37,181) XR Games
SignaNota $9.99 90 94% 2.7k $27k (exactly $26,973) IvoryHand
Time Snatcher Handy $9.99 88 96% 2.6k $26k (exactly $26,374) PulleyBun, ClockworkCats
Gunstoppable $12.49 58 81% 1.7k $22k (exactly $21,733) CAGE Studios
Decks of Dexterity $14.99 33 100% 990 $15k (exactly $14,840) Coded Games

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