Do I ship it?

Games › PvP › PvP + Combat

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvP Combat game?

PvP + Combat

Of 611 developers who shipped a PvP 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.. 1,756 more are announced, ×4.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $670, ×0.4 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150. 1,756 games are announced against 364 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.8 per shipper, while revenue is down 20% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 20% on the market, 1,756 announced, ×4.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvP + Combat
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 611
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $479 → $1.1k → $599 → $1.2k → $748 → $899 → $599 (still earning) → $180 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvP + Combat: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 611
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $674 (exactly $674)
Top 25% $4.8k (exactly $4,800)
Top 5% $1.1M (exactly $1,104,832)
Developers, 2 yr 611
Released games 2,089
Announced 1,756
Effort 8 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $6.99

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 20% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 36%, 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.

PvP
effort 8 / 10 · low · authoritative servers, latency compensation, cheating
Combat
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
PvP, Combat; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 74% positive over 789,720 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 $670, 1 in 4 over $4.8k, 1 in 20 over $1.1M.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 417 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 1,756 games are announced against 364 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.8 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvP with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + BaseballFair6 devs · median $7.6k · 9 announced
  2. + TransportationFair10 devs · median $5.7k · 11 announced
  3. + BasketballFair25 devs · median $2.6k · 28 announced
  4. + Football (American)Fair17 devs · median $1.8k · 12 announced
  5. + BikesFair10 devs · median $1.5k · 7 announced
  6. + GolfFair29 devs · median $1.4k · 34 announced
  7. + World War IFair12 devs · median $1.3k · 14 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair36 devs · median $1.2k · 48 announced
  9. + BilliardsFair18 devs · median $1.1k · 12 announced
  10. + TennisLong shot17 devs · median $899 · 15 announced
  11. + TypingLong shot28 devs · median $719 · 31 announced
  12. + SpellingLong shot14 devs · median $719 · 17 announced

All 247 pairs on the PvP page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Battlefield™ 6 2025 · $620M Battlefield™ 2042 2021 · $468M ARC Raiders 2025 · $359M Battlefield™ V 2020 · $355M Titanfall® 2 2020 · $229M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Battlefield™ 6 $69.99 295,442 63% 8.9M $620M (exactly $620,339,567) Battlefield Studios
Battlefield™ 2042 older $59.99 260,308 49% 7.8M $468M (exactly $468,476,308) DICE
ARC Raiders $39.99 299,346 82% 9.0M $359M (exactly $359,125,396) Embark Studios
Battlefield™ V older $49.99 236,709 70% 7.1M $355M (exactly $354,992,487) DICE
Titanfall® 2 older $29.99 255,050 95% 7.7M $229M (exactly $229,468,485) Respawn Entertainment
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II older $39.99 87,494 88% 2.6M $105M (exactly $104,966,552) DICE
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO $49.99 50,395 86% 1.5M $76M (exactly $75,577,382) Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
WARDOGS · EA $39.99 58,250 81% 1.7M $70M (exactly $69,882,525) BULKHEAD
Space Engineers older $19.99 100,533 89% 3.0M $60M (exactly $60,289,640) Keen Software House
Bodycam · EA older $33.32 60,179 80% 1.8M $60M (exactly $60,154,928) Reissad Studio
Undisputed $49.99 19,190 60% 576k $29M (exactly $28,779,243) Steel City Interactive
Soulmask $29.99 18,445 76% 553k $17M (exactly $16,594,966) CampFire Studio
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam $39.99 10,702 61% 321k $13M (exactly $12,839,189) Expression Games
Fellowship · EA $24.99 15,357 74% 461k $12M (exactly $11,513,143) Chief Rebel
Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE $39.99 7,662 70% 230k $9.2M (exactly $9,192,101) Netmarble Neo
The Bazaar $19.99 14,931 70% 448k $9.0M (exactly $8,954,121) Tempo

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