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Should I ship a PvE Choose Your Own Adventure game?
PvE + Choose Your Own Adventure
Of 77 developers who shipped a PvE Choose Your Own Adventure 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.. 202 more are announced, ×5.1 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 $210; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×188 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 202 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $450 (exactly $450) |
| Top 25% | $4.0k (exactly $4,042) |
| Top 5% | $118k (exactly $118,141) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 77 |
| Released games | 198 |
| Announced | 202 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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: 19%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE, Choose Your Own Adventure; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, RPG, Adventure
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 131,291 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 9 in 10 of the 48 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 202 games are announced against 40 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvE with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + IdlerFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + TypingFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + HeistPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + NavalPoor odds
- + SpaceshipsPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
Comparable games
Crimson Desert Enhanced 2026 · $242M 
The Elder Scrolls® Online 2017 · $81M 
Avorion 2020 · $9.7M 
The Bazaar 2025 · $9.0M 
Plebby Quest: The Crusades 2020 · $1.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Crimson Desert Enhanced | $69.99 | 115,056 83% | 3.5M | $242M (exactly $241,583,083) | Pearl Abyss | |
| | The Elder Scrolls® Online | older | $19.99 | 134,421 82% | 4.0M | $81M (exactly $80,612,274) | ZeniMax Online Studios |
| | Avorion | older | $24.99 | 13,001 90% | 390k | $9.7M (exactly $9,746,850) | Boxelware |
| | The Bazaar | $19.99 | 14,931 70% | 448k | $9.0M (exactly $8,954,121) | Tempo | |
| | Plebby Quest: The Crusades | older | $19.99 | 2,625 86% | 79k | $1.6M (exactly $1,574,212) | PiedPipers Team |
 | Anima: Gate of Memories | older | $19.99 | 580 70% | 17k | $348k (exactly $347,826) | Anima Project |
 | Ash of Gods: The Way | older | $24.99 | 416 80% | 12k | $312k (exactly $311,875) | AurumDust |
 | The Divine Invasion | older | $14.99 | 690 79% | 21k | $310k (exactly $310,293) | Whale Rock Games |
 | Lugh World | · EA | $14.99 | 458 68% | 14k | $206k (exactly $205,963) | Lughsoft |
 | Korea Dynasty (조선메타실록) | · EA older | $23.99 | 267 72% | 8.0k | $192k (exactly $192,160) | Happy Daram Inc. |
 | City 20 | · EA | $19.99 | 197 72% | 5.9k | $118k (exactly $118,141) | Untold Games |
 | Robot girl's dream -RobotBattleChampionship- | $16.99 | 196 95% | 5.9k | $100k (exactly $99,901) | DeskClub Games | |
 | Draw Steel | · EA | $19.99 | 67 98% | 2.0k | $40k (exactly $40,180) | Verisim, MCDM |
 | Away From Home | $17.99 | 70 70% | 2.1k | $38k (exactly $37,779) | Squishy, Cameron Smith-Randick | |
 | Eydigard | · EA | $19.99 | 55 72% | 1.7k | $33k (exactly $32,984) | Frostisen Studio |
 | Femboy Survival | · EA | $6.99 | 133 92% | 4.0k | $28k (exactly $27,890) | 2DNiem |
 | Religion inc. | $4.99 | 128 72% | 3.8k | $19k (exactly $19,162) | GameFirst |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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