Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + God Game

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE God Game?

PvE + God Game

Only 18 developers shipped a PvE God 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, Masters of Albion, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 44 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $450k, ×725 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 44 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 75% on the market, 44 announced, ×4.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + God Game
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 18
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.7k → $6.6k → $1.2k → $22k → $179 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + God Game: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 18
Bottom 30% $179 (exactly $179)
Median $899 (exactly $899)
Top 25% $22k (exactly $22,292)
Top 5% $455k (exactly $455,068)
Developers, 2 yr 18
Released games 45
Announced 44
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $5.99

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 75% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 18%, 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.

PvE
effort 6 / 10 · low · online co-op against AI still needs the whole netcode stack
God Game
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
PvE, God Game; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Strategy, Exploration
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, 2D, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 75% positive over 1,714 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $900, 1 in 4 over $22k, 1 in 20 over $450k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 44 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Dating SimFair17 devs · median $2.4k · 23 announced
  2. + IdlerFair161 devs · median $1.0k · 229 announced
  3. + MinigamesFair9 devs · median $899 · 14 announced
  4. + TypingFair23 devs · median $719 · 27 announced
  5. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds44 devs · median $163k · 97 announced
  6. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds50 devs · median $85k · 120 announced
  7. + HeistPoor odds18 devs · median $30k · 50 announced
  8. + MMORPGPoor odds34 devs · median $25k · 248 announced
  9. + Real-TimePoor odds10 devs · median $20k · 24 announced
  10. + NavalPoor odds21 devs · median $11k · 59 announced
  11. + SpaceshipsPoor odds16 devs · median $6.3k · 20 announced
  12. + MarsPoor odds10 devs · median $6.3k · 13 announced

All 243 pairs on the PvE page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Masters of Albion 2026 · EA · $455k Darwinia 2005 · $281k Spectral Scream 2024 · $196k Strange Seed 2025 · $194k Skyworld 2017 · $103k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Masters of Albion · EA $24.99 607 64% 18k $455k (exactly $455,068) 22cans
Darwinia older $11.99 781 78% 23k $281k (exactly $280,926) Introversion Software
Spectral Scream older $9.99 654 78% 20k $196k (exactly $196,004) STOIC Ent.
Strange Seed $14.99 431 86% 13k $194k (exactly $193,821) Chronicle Games Ltd
Skyworld older $14.99 229 79% 6.9k $103k (exactly $102,981) Vertigo Games, Wolfdog Interactive
Game of Grass $6.99 275 84% 8.3k $58k (exactly $57,668) Hipsterdufus
Gods Against Machines older $11.99 91 84% 2.7k $33k (exactly $32,733) Silver Eye Studios
ダンジョンに生息だ！ $7.99 112 90% 3.4k $27k (exactly $26,846) ドクローネ
ELARIENNE $7.99 93 61% 2.8k $22k (exactly $22,292) JDL
Religion inc. $4.99 128 72% 3.8k $19k (exactly $19,162) GameFirst
Holy Shot $5.99 53 84% 1.6k $9.5k (exactly $9,524) LoneWolf Digital Arts
Kill The Skeletons $4.99 8 75% 240 $1.2k (exactly $1,198) Callibel Studio
me Igigu $9.99 3 100% 90 $899 (exactly $899) ItsAllAGame
BLEST $6.99 4 0% 120 $839 (exactly $839) Oedipe Games

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