Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Hidden Object

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Hidden Object?

PvE + Hidden Object

Of 104 developers who shipped a PvE Hidden Object 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.. 127 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 54 developers shipped in the last year and 127 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.7 times the market baseline, revenue down 50% on the market, 127 announced, ×2.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Hidden Object
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 104
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $179 → $269 → $450 → $449 → $180 → $479 → $599 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Hidden Object: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 104
Bottom 30% $119 (exactly $119)
Median $449 (exactly $449)
Top 25% $1.7k (exactly $1,731)
Top 5% $33k (exactly $32,987)
Developers, 2 yr 104
Released games 252
Announced 127
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 down 50% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.

Free games: 13%, 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
Hidden Object
effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets

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, Hidden Object; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Action, Exploration
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 77% positive over 4,629 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $450, 1 in 4 over $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $32k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 65 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 127 games are announced against 54 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 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

Neighbors: Suburban Warfare 2025 · EA · $571k Prehistoric Hunt 2020 · EA · $366k Ghost Janitors 2025 · $275k Anomaly Exit 2024 · $201k Goonya Monster 2022 · $111k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Neighbors: Suburban Warfare · EA $9.99 1,906 66% 57k $571k (exactly $571,228) Invisible Walls
Prehistoric Hunt · EA older $17.99 678 84% 20k $366k (exactly $365,917) Antiproto Studios
Ghost Janitors $9.99 917 87% 28k $275k (exactly $274,825) Interactive Wave Studio
Anomaly Exit older $5.99 1,118 89% 34k $201k (exactly $200,905) ExamlGuy
Goonya Monster older $19.99 185 76% 5.6k $111k (exactly $110,944) MUTAN
Forest Doesn’t Care $13.99 251 65% 7.5k $105k (exactly $105,345) MOROZ GAMES
ESCAPE FROM BOYKISSER older $2.99 1,028 76% 31k $92k (exactly $92,212) akhsotoen
Mahjong World Contest (麻将) older $14.99 193 88% 5.8k $87k (exactly $86,792) Creobit
Summer Paws older $4.99 409 96% 12k $61k (exactly $61,227) Manic Hyena
Shards Of Solitude $9.99 163 85% 4.9k $49k (exactly $48,851) Chilling Designs
SCRIBBLE HUNT $3.99 302 81% 9.1k $36k (exactly $36,149) SCRIBBLE BUNNY
OUTCLAW $24.99 44 93% 1.3k $33k (exactly $32,987) Moss Monkey
5 NIGHTS AT SHALUN 4: SCHOOL $1.99 535 93% 16k $32k (exactly $31,940) Team GZ, VADIM CHURILOV
5 NIGHTS AT BOBR KURWA $2.99 324 93% 9.7k $29k (exactly $29,063) Team GZ
Find or be Found $7.99 117 69% 3.5k $28k (exactly $28,045) Studio Downstairs
Mortanis Prisoners $12.99 70 80% 2.1k $27k (exactly $27,279) Alexey Bulgakov, Vladimir Zlobin

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