Games › PvE › PvE + Female Protagonist
Should I ship a Female-Led PvE game?
PvE + Female Protagonist
Of 266 developers who shipped a Female-Led PvE 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.. 486 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $330k, ×537 the market median. Revenue is up 135% on the market; 486 games are announced against 164 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $360 (exactly $360) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,799) |
| Top 25% | $8.4k (exactly $8,446) |
| Top 5% | $337k (exactly $337,031) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 266 |
| Released games | 631 |
| Announced | 486 |
| 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 up 135% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, 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
- Female Protagonist
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Shooter
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Anime, 3D, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 116,770 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 137 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 486 games are announced against 164 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvE with a different setting or mood, 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Stellar Blade™ | $59.99 | 61,289 93% | 1.8M | $110M (exactly $110,301,813) | SHIFT UP Corporation | |
| | Far Cry® 6 | older | $59.99 | 33,280 71% | 998k | $60M (exactly $59,894,016) | Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubis… (Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Kyiv, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Berlin) |
| | PRAGMATA | $59.99 | 32,885 96% | 987k | $59M (exactly $59,183,134) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. | |
| | Granblue Fantasy: Relink | older | $39.99 | 41,227 89% | 1.2M | $49M (exactly $49,460,032) | Cygames, Inc. |
| | Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy | $49.99 | 3,558 92% | 107k | $5.3M (exactly $5,335,933) | Asobo Studio | |
| | STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R | older | $49.99 | 3,229 92% | 97k | $4.8M (exactly $4,842,531) | Square Enix, Gemdrops, Inc. |
| | SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada | $39.99 | 3,303 40% | 99k | $4.0M (exactly $3,962,609) | Game Studio Inc. | |
| | The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition | older | $39.99 | 2,841 74% | 85k | $3.4M (exactly $3,408,348) | Obsidian Entertainment, Virtuos Games |
| | Deceive Inc. | older | $19.99 | 4,755 84% | 143k | $2.9M (exactly $2,851,574) | Sweet Bandits Studios |
| | Cardfight!! Vanguard Dear Days | older | $69.99 | 1,186 76% | 36k | $2.5M (exactly $2,490,244) | FURYU Corporation, LANCARSE Ltd. |
| | Cardfight!! Vanguard Dear Days 2 | $69.99 | 631 67% | 19k | $1.3M (exactly $1,324,911) | FURYU Corporation, LANCARSE Ltd. | |
| | Nunholy | $7.99 | 5,150 88% | 155k | $1.2M (exactly $1,234,455) | Chowbie | |
| | METAL EDEN | $19.99 | 1,920 84% | 58k | $1.2M (exactly $1,151,424) | Reikon Games | |
| | Wicked Seed | $19.99 | 1,376 94% | 41k | $825k (exactly $825,187) | Dead Right Games | |
| | Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (1999) | $9.99 | 2,329 89% | 70k | $698k (exactly $698,001) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
| | Kabuto Park | $4.99 | 4,329 99% | 130k | $648k (exactly $648,051) | Doot |
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.