Do I ship it?

GamesPvPPvP + Hex Grid

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvP Hex Grid game?

PvP + Hex Grid

Of 39 developers who shipped a PvP Hex Grid 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.. 73 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 $1.8k, ×1.2 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $630; 1 in 20 cleared $48k, ×32 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 73 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.2 times the market baseline, revenue down 20% on the market, 73 announced, ×2.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvP + Hex Grid
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 39
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $269 → $1.8k → $3.1k → $1.8k → $179 → $5.5k → $3.0k (still earning) → $899 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvP + Hex Grid: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 39
Bottom 30% $629 (exactly $629)
Median $1.8k (exactly $1,798)
Top 25% $5.5k (exactly $5,456)
Top 5% $48k (exactly $48,279)
Developers, 2 yr 39
Released games 112
Announced 73
Effort 8 / 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 20% on the market, supply 125% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 20%, 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.

PvP
effort 8 / 10 · low · authoritative servers, latency compensation, cheating
Hex Grid
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
PvP, Hex Grid; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Tactical, Turn-Based Strategy
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.95 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $39.95 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 48% positive over 45,208 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $630, median $1.8k, 1 in 4 over $5.4k, 1 in 20 over $48k.

3 in 10 developers made under $630. 9 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 73 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + BaseballFair6 devs · median $7.6k · 9 announced
  2. + TransportationFair10 devs · median $5.7k · 11 announced
  3. + BasketballFair25 devs · median $2.6k · 28 announced
  4. + Football (American)Fair17 devs · median $1.8k · 12 announced
  5. + BikesFair10 devs · median $1.5k · 7 announced
  6. + GolfFair29 devs · median $1.4k · 34 announced
  7. + World War IFair12 devs · median $1.3k · 14 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair36 devs · median $1.2k · 48 announced
  9. + BilliardsFair18 devs · median $1.1k · 12 announced
  10. + TennisLong shot17 devs · median $899 · 15 announced
  11. + TypingLong shot28 devs · median $719 · 31 announced
  12. + SpellingLong shot14 devs · median $719 · 17 announced

All 247 pairs on the PvP page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Sid Meier's Civilization VII $69.99 44,789 48% 1.3M $94M (exactly $94,043,463) Firaxis Games
For The King II older $24.99 12,708 71% 381k $9.5M (exactly $9,527,188) IronOak Games
Armello older $24.99 11,013 82% 330k $8.3M (exactly $8,256,446) League of Geeks
Galactic Civilizations III older $29.99 8,337 77% 250k $7.5M (exactly $7,500,799) Stardock Entertainment
Age of Wonders: Planetfall older $29.99 4,758 80% 143k $4.3M (exactly $4,280,773) Triumph Studios
Millennia older $39.99 2,976 67% 89k $3.6M (exactly $3,570,307) C Prompt Games
Terraforming Mars older $19.99 5,194 71% 156k $3.1M (exactly $3,114,842) Artefacts Studio
Scythe: Digital Edition older $19.99 3,164 89% 95k $1.9M (exactly $1,897,451) The Knights of Unity
TerraScape older $14.99 2,068 88% 62k $930k (exactly $929,980) Bitfall Studios
Hexarchy older $19.99 1,231 83% 37k $738k (exactly $738,231) Main Tank Software
Space Imperia 4X $22.99 70 92% 2.1k $48k (exactly $48,279) Breich Games
Eclipse - 2nd Dawn for the Galaxy $12.99 95 57% 2.9k $37k (exactly $37,022) BrettspielWelt GmbH
Sword & Siege Crusades: Book I $39.95 19 100% 570 $23k (exactly $22,772) Wargame Design Studio
Flawed Tactics $9.99 59 89% 1.8k $18k (exactly $17,682) Flawed Games
Saratoga $9.99 45 95% 1.4k $13k (exactly $13,486) Hexes of War
Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss $19.99 22 63% 660 $13k (exactly $13,193) Polyarc
Politon $4.99 81 90% 2.4k $12k (exactly $12,126) Pinq Games
Super World War $19.99 19 100% 570 $11k (exactly $11,394) Zero Games Studios
American Revolutionary War $39.95 9 100% 270 $11k (exactly $10,786) Wargame Design Studio

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