Do I ship it?

Games › Vehicular Combat › Vehicular Combat + Crafting

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Crafting Vehicular Combat game?

Vehicular Combat + Crafting

Only 14 developers shipped a Crafting Vehicular Combat game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Pax Autocratica, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 43 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $20k, ×32 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $3.9k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.8M, ×4587 the market median. Revenue is up 8200% on the market; 43 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 31.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 8200% on the market, 43 announced, ×3.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Vehicular Combat + Crafting
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 14
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $42k → $3.9k → $303k (still earning) → $2.3k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Vehicular Combat + Crafting: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 14
Bottom 30% $3.9k (exactly $3,897)
Median $20k (exactly $19,782)
Top 25% $439k (exactly $438,542)
Top 5% $2.9M (exactly $2,880,839)
Developers, 2 yr 14
Released games 40
Announced 43
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $16.88

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 8200% on the market, supply 265% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, 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 medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Vehicular Combat
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Crafting
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
Vehicular Combat, Crafting; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry PvE, Action, Survival
Price point
$16.88 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $16.88.

The top 10 games average 79% positive over 9,626 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $3.9k, median $20k, 1 in 4 over $430k, 1 in 20 over $2.8M.

3 in 10 developers made under $3.9k. 43 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Looter ShooterFair11 devs · median $15k · 14 announced
  2. + BuildingPoor odds14 devs · median $303k · 40 announced
  3. + Online Co-OpPoor odds29 devs · median $62k · 75 announced
  4. + Co-opPoor odds38 devs · median $32k · 101 announced
  5. + HistoricalPoor odds16 devs · median $32k · 36 announced
  6. + Open WorldPoor odds45 devs · median $15k · 97 announced
  7. + ManagementPoor odds21 devs · median $13k · 36 announced
  8. + SandboxPoor odds25 devs · median $10k · 70 announced
  9. + Real Time TacticsPoor odds20 devs · median $9.6k · 50 announced
  10. + ModernPoor odds18 devs · median $8.6k · 25 announced
  11. + MechsPoor odds24 devs · median $4.8k · 52 announced
  12. + Female ProtagonistPoor odds14 devs · median $4.8k · 32 announced

All 98 pairs on the Vehicular Combat page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Trailmakers 2019 · $25M TerraTech 2018 · $15M From the Depths 2020 · $8.3M Pax Autocratica 2026 · EA · $2.9M Lost Skies 2025 · $1.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Trailmakers older $24.99 33,465 92% 1.0M $25M (exactly $25,088,710) Flashbulb
TerraTech older $24.99 20,564 92% 617k $15M (exactly $15,416,831) Payload Studios
From the Depths older $24.99 11,059 89% 332k $8.3M (exactly $8,290,932) Brilliant Skies Ltd.
Pax Autocratica · EA $29.99 3,202 91% 96k $2.9M (exactly $2,880,839) Multiverse
Lost Skies $24.99 2,470 63% 74k $1.9M (exactly $1,851,759) Bossa Studios
TerraTech Worlds · EA older $29.99 2,027 62% 61k $1.8M (exactly $1,823,692) Payload Studios
TerraTech Legion $9.99 2,109 81% 63k $632k (exactly $632,067) Payload Studios
Human Host · EA $16.88 866 83% 26k $439k (exactly $438,542) Virtual Matrix Studio
Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls · EA older $29.99 487 66% 15k $438k (exactly $438,154) Reason Generator Inc.
Aquanox Deep Descent older $29.99 463 48% 14k $417k (exactly $416,561) Digital Arrow
Echoes of Elysium · EA $19.99 506 61% 15k $303k (exactly $303,448) Loric Games, Inc.
BREAK ARTS III $17.99 334 80% 10k $180k (exactly $180,260) MercuryStudio
Carnaval Simulator $10.99 60 93% 1.8k $20k (exactly $19,782) JBA Software Development
RoadOut $14.99 34 97% 1.0k $15k (exactly $15,290) Rastrolabs Game Studio
Duneborn $11.99 35 51% 1.1k $13k (exactly $12,590) A.P Games
Enemy Inside · EA $12.99 10 100% 300 $3.9k (exactly $3,897) Six Ways Games

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