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Should I ship a PvE Driving game?
Driving + PvE
Of 71 developers who shipped a PvE Driving 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.. 147 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 $1.6k, ×2.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $880k, ×1414 the market median. Revenue is up 70% on the market; 147 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,946) |
| Top 5% | $888k (exactly $887,822) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 71 |
| Released games | 195 |
| Announced | 147 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 up 70% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Driving, PvE; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Racing, Arcade
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Third Person, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 64% positive over 22,912 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 8 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 147 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Driving with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Survival HorrorFair
- + World War IIFair
- + MusicFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + Interactive FictionFair
- + LogicFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SnowRunner | older | $29.99 | 46,343 90% | 1.4M | $42M (exactly $41,694,797) | Saber Interactive |
| | SAND: Raiders of Sophie | · EA | $24.99 | 12,485 49% | 375k | $9.4M (exactly $9,360,004) | Hologryph, TowerHaus |
| | F1® Manager 2024 | older | $34.99 | 5,554 83% | 167k | $5.8M (exactly $5,830,034) | Frontier Developments |
| | KartKraft™ | older | $24.99 | 2,987 73% | 90k | $2.2M (exactly $2,239,354) | Motorsport Games |
| | Screamer | $59.99 | 1,039 80% | 31k | $1.9M (exactly $1,869,888) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | TRAIL OUT | older | $19.99 | 3,019 81% | 91k | $1.8M (exactly $1,810,494) | GOOD BOYS |
| | Call to Arms: Panzer Elite | · EA | $29.99 | 1,927 69% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,733,722) | Digitalmindsoft |
| | FUMES | · EA | $14.99 | 2,816 95% | 84k | $1.3M (exactly $1,266,355) | FUMES team |
| | MotoGP™24 | older | $39.99 | 996 83% | 30k | $1.2M (exactly $1,194,901) | Milestone S.r.l. |
| | Into The Flames | older | $19.99 | 1,548 80% | 46k | $928k (exactly $928,336) | Fully Involved Game Studios |
| | MotoGP™25 | $49.99 | 592 74% | 18k | $888k (exactly $887,822) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | Badlands Crew - Drive, Command, Conquer | $18.99 | 1,126 78% | 34k | $641k (exactly $641,482) | Runner Duck | |
| | TerraTech Legion | $9.99 | 2,109 81% | 63k | $632k (exactly $632,067) | Payload Studios | |
| | GT Manager | $24.99 | 236 71% | 7.1k | $177k (exactly $176,929) | THE TINY DIGITAL FACTORY, IMV STUDIO | |
| | Garfield Kart 2 - All You Can Drift | $24.99 | 216 45% | 6.5k | $162k (exactly $161,935) | Eden Games | |
| | XF Extreme Formula | $11.99 | 366 90% | 11k | $132k (exactly $131,650) | Feperd Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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