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Should I ship a PvP Grid-Based Movement game?
PvP + Grid-Based Movement
Of 60 developers who shipped a PvP Grid-Based Movement 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.. 115 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $480, ×0.3 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50. 115 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper, while revenue is down 40% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $479 (exactly $479) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) |
| Top 5% | $61k (exactly $61,139) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 60 |
| Released games | 179 |
| Announced | 115 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 40% on the market, supply 135% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 27%, 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
- Grid-Based Movement
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- PvP, Grid-Based Movement; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Turn-Based Combat, Turn-Based Strategy
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 1,971 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 27 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 115 games are announced against 42 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Talisman: Digital Classic Edition | older | $6.99 | 5,557 80% | 167k | $1.2M (exactly $1,165,303) | Nomad Games |
| | Card-en-Ciel | $24.99 | 856 90% | 26k | $642k (exactly $641,743) | INTI CREATES CO., LTD. | |
| | Warside | $24.99 | 547 68% | 16k | $410k (exactly $410,086) | LAVABIRD | |
| | Field of Glory II: Medieval | older | $29.99 | 424 86% | 13k | $381k (exactly $381,473) | Byzantine Games |
| | Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon | older | $19.99 | 518 91% | 16k | $311k (exactly $310,645) | VINE, Yacht Club Games |
| | Death Crown | older | $12.99 | 516 89% | 15k | $201k (exactly $201,085) | 5WORD Team |
| | Fire & Maneuver | older | $9.99 | 281 68% | 8.4k | $84k (exactly $84,216) | Armchair Interactive, Targon Studios |
| | Trolddom | $9.99 | 204 94% | 6.1k | $61k (exactly $61,139) | Plant Based Games | |
| | The Infinite Black 2 | older | $6.99 | 201 87% | 6.0k | $42k (exactly $42,150) | Spellbook |
| | Skygard Arena | $14.99 | 93 77% | 2.8k | $42k (exactly $41,822) | Gemelli Games | |
| | Apes Warfare | $14.99 | 90 95% | 2.7k | $40k (exactly $40,473) | GigaQuests, STOIC Ent. | |
| | Earth vs Mars | $14.99 | 74 85% | 2.2k | $33k (exactly $33,278) | Relic Entertainment | |
| | Superstar Strategy | $19.99 | 23 95% | 690 | $14k (exactly $13,793) | Talberon Games | |
| | Horn of the Warlord | $14.99 | 30 96% | 900 | $13k (exactly $13,491) | MagicKrol | |
| | Board Game Society | $14.99 | 29 62% | 870 | $13k (exactly $13,041) | Jetebra Games | |
| | Stratego® Online | $11.99 | 25 96% | 750 | $9.0k (exactly $8,992) | Wanted 5 Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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