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Should I ship a Gun Customization PvE game?
Gun Customization + PvE
Of 118 developers who shipped a Gun Customization 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.. 330 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×1.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $1.4M, ×2336 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 330 games are announced against 71 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $450 (exactly $450) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) |
| Top 25% | $14k (exactly $13,941) |
| Top 5% | $1.5M (exactly $1,466,866) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 118 |
| Released games | 295 |
| Announced | 330 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 45% on the market, supply 50% 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.
- Gun Customization
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- PvE
- effort 6 / 10 · low · online co-op against AI still needs the whole netcode stack
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Gun Customization, PvE; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, FPS
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 65% positive over 140,824 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 8 in 10 of the 59 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 330 games are announced against 71 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Gun Customization with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + DystopianPoor odds
- + Immersive SimPoor odds
- + BuildingPoor odds
- + Survival HorrorPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + StealthPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + MechsPoor odds
- + Resource ManagementPoor odds
- + Base BuildingPoor odds
Comparable games
PAYDAY 2 2013 · $134M 
Escape from Tarkov 2025 · $84M 
Gray Zone Warfare 2024 · EA · $83M 
Far Cry® 6 2023 · $60M 
Marathon 2026 · $54M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | PAYDAY 2 | older | $9.99 | 445,531 89% | 13M | $134M (exactly $133,525,641) | OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetr… (OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetrack Games) |
| | Escape from Tarkov | $49.99 | 55,824 49% | 1.7M | $84M (exactly $83,719,253) | Battlestate Games | |
| | Gray Zone Warfare | · EA older | $39.99 | 69,146 72% | 2.1M | $83M (exactly $82,954,456) | MADFINGER Games, a.s. |
| | 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) |
| | Marathon | $39.99 | 44,919 81% | 1.3M | $54M (exactly $53,889,324) | Bungie | |
 | PAYDAY 3 | older | $29.99 | 49,305 45% | 1.5M | $44M (exactly $44,359,708) | Starbreeze Studios |
 | Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War | older | $59.99 | 21,955 79% | 659k | $40M (exactly $39,512,414) | Treyarch, Raven Software, High Moon Stu… (Treyarch, Raven Software, High Moon Studios, Beenox, Activision Shanghai, Sledgehammer Games) |
 | World War Z | older | $29.99 | 24,897 82% | 747k | $22M (exactly $22,399,831) | Saber Interactive Inc |
 | The Forever Winter | · EA | $29.99 | 21,376 68% | 641k | $19M (exactly $19,231,987) | Fun Dog Studios |
 | Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7 | $69.99 | 4,344 37% | 130k | $9.1M (exactly $9,121,097) | Treyarch, Raven Software, Beenox, High… (Treyarch, Raven Software, Beenox, High Moon Studios, Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, Activision Shanghai, Demonware) | |
 | Road to Vostok | · EA | $19.99 | 8,646 84% | 259k | $5.2M (exactly $5,185,006) | Road to Vostok Ltd. |
 | Level Zero: Extraction | $19.99 | 2,446 50% | 73k | $1.5M (exactly $1,466,866) | Doghowl Games | |
 | Bad 2 Bad: Apocalypse | $19.99 | 905 77% | 27k | $543k (exactly $542,728) | DAWINSTONE | |
 | Dagger Directive | $19.99 | 802 83% | 24k | $481k (exactly $480,959) | Arcane Alpacas LLC | |
 | Alpha Response | · EA | $19.99 | 788 77% | 24k | $473k (exactly $472,564) | Ultimo Ratio Games |
 | Transience | $19.99 | 774 69% | 23k | $464k (exactly $464,168) | RESURGENT |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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