Games › PvP › PvP + Combat Racing
Should I ship a PvP Combat Racing game?
PvP + Combat Racing
Of 118 developers who shipped a PvP Combat Racing 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.. 192 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×0.7 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300. 192 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper, while revenue is down 15% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,019) |
| Top 25% | $6.0k (exactly $5,994) |
| Top 5% | $359k (exactly $359,220) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 118 |
| Released games | 350 |
| Announced | 192 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 15% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 23%, 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
- Combat Racing
- effort 6 / 10 · low · vehicle physics plus weapons and AI drivers
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- PvP, Combat Racing; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Racing, Arcade, Action
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 21,567 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 69 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 192 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Need for Speed™ Heat | older | $69.99 | 128,933 84% | 3.9M | $271M (exactly $270,720,620) | Ghost Games |
| | Need for Speed™ Payback | older | $29.99 | 27,424 85% | 823k | $25M (exactly $24,673,373) | Ghost Games |
| | Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds | $69.99 | 11,479 93% | 344k | $24M (exactly $24,102,456) | Sonic Team | |
| | Road Redemption | older | $19.99 | 10,842 83% | 325k | $6.5M (exactly $6,501,947) | Redemption Road, Pixel Dash Studios |
| | Wreckfest 2 | · EA | $34.99 | 5,578 73% | 167k | $5.9M (exactly $5,855,227) | Bugbear |
| | Need for Speed™ Rivals | older | $19.99 | 9,265 76% | 278k | $5.6M (exactly $5,556,220) | Criterion Games |
| | GRID Legends | older | $59.99 | 2,952 76% | 89k | $5.3M (exactly $5,312,714) | Codemasters |
| | Screamer | $59.99 | 1,039 80% | 31k | $1.9M (exactly $1,869,888) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | FlatOut | older | $7.49 | 5,870 91% | 176k | $1.3M (exactly $1,318,989) | Bugbear Entertainment, ZOOM Platform Me… (Bugbear Entertainment, ZOOM Platform Media, Jordan Freeman Group) |
| | The Karters 2: Turbo Charged | · EA | $29.99 | 1,043 91% | 31k | $938k (exactly $938,387) | Pixel Edge Games |
| | Wreckreation | $39.99 | 360 63% | 11k | $432k (exactly $431,892) | Three Fields Entertainment | |
| | Victory Heat Rally | $19.99 | 599 88% | 18k | $359k (exactly $359,220) | Skydevilpalm | |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks | $19.99 | 493 85% | 15k | $296k (exactly $295,652) | Caged Element | |
| | Recharge: Room Games | · EA | $19.99 | 313 67% | 9.4k | $188k (exactly $187,706) | Room Games |
| | Garfield Kart 2 - All You Can Drift | $24.99 | 216 45% | 6.5k | $162k (exactly $161,935) | Eden Games | |
| | SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed | $9.99 | 447 55% | 13k | $134k (exactly $133,966) | Fair Play Labs |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.