Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Hacking

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Hacking PvE game?

PvE + Hacking

Only 19 developers shipped a Hacking PvE 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, PRAGMATA, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 45 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $750, ×1.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $59M, ×94241 the market median. Revenue is up 295% on the market; 45 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 295% on the market, 45 announced, ×2.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Hacking
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 19
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.1k → $240 → $449 → $263k → $1.6k (still earning) → $120 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Hacking: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 19
Bottom 30% $299 (exactly $299)
Median $748 (exactly $748)
Top 25% $122k (exactly $122,247)
Top 5% $59M (exactly $59,183,134)
Developers, 2 yr 19
Released games 48
Announced 45
Effort 6 / 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 up 295% on the market, supply 435% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, 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
Hacking
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high 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; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Adventure
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Funny
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 93% positive over 37,520 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $750, 1 in 4 over $120k, 1 in 20 over $59M.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 45 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvE with a different setting or mood, 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

PRAGMATA 2026 · $59M Cheaters Cheetah 2025 · $421k Deathground 2025 · EA · $394k Desktop Defender 2025 · $263k Quantum Protocol 2020 · $244k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
PRAGMATA $59.99 32,885 96% 987k $59M (exactly $59,183,134) CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Cheaters Cheetah $9.99 1,406 59% 42k $421k (exactly $421,378) Acmore Games
Deathground · EA $14.99 877 61% 26k $394k (exactly $394,387) Jaw Drop Games
Desktop Defender $4.99 1,757 92% 53k $263k (exactly $263,023) Conradical Games
Quantum Protocol older $12.99 625 90% 19k $244k (exactly $243,562) Kaio Meris
Net.Attack() - Code or Die! $7.99 510 80% 15k $122k (exactly $122,247) ByteRockers' Games
Samurai Slaughter House · EA older $29.99 51 37% 1.5k $46k (exactly $45,885) Tab Games
Kinetype · EA $6.99 36 83% 1.1k $7.5k (exactly $7,549) Morlytic
DeadWire $9.99 18 100% 540 $5.4k (exactly $5,395) Shotgun Anaconda
Antecrypt older $5.99 23 91% 690 $4.1k (exactly $4,133) PUNKCAKE Délicieux
EchoLink: Recursion $6.99 15 66% 450 $3.1k (exactly $3,146) Detonation Zone Interactive
Firewall Breaker $4.99 11 90% 330 $1.6k (exactly $1,647) Nadyos
Battle Bits $4.99 5 40% 150 $748 (exactly $748) NecoPlanet

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