Do I ship it?

GamesMMORPGMMORPG + Historical

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Historical MMORPG?

MMORPG + Historical

Only 2 developers shipped a paid Historical MMORPG in the last 2 years. Over all years on record, 5 did: 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.. 9 in 10 of the games here are free to play and sit outside these figures. 18 more are announced, ×18 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 10 / 10 build.

Only 1 developer shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $0 against a market of $1.3k. 18 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.0 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 18 announced, ×18 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
MMORPG + Historical
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, all n = 5

not enough cohorts to draw

Outcomes for MMORPG + Historical: Plate 1 · outcomes, all, n = 5
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $179 (exactly $179)
Top 25% $5.3M (exactly $5,279,759)
Top 5% $6.1M (exactly $6,109,144)
Developers, all 5
Released games 34
Announced 18
Effort 10 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $19.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply as many developers as the period before.

Free games: 85%, 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.

MMORPG
effort 10 / 10 · low · persistent world servers and a live economy
Historical
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
10 / 10 · studio only
Systems
MMORPG
Price point
$19.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 3 games average 58% positive over 18,994 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes over all years on record by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $180, 1 in 4 over $5.2M, 1 in 20 over $6.1M.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 18 games are announced against 1 developer who shipped in the last year, ×18 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

MMORPG with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + LootPoor odds8 devs · median $253k · 57 announced
  2. + TradingPoor odds6 devs · median $206k · 42 announced
  3. + SandboxPoor odds15 devs · median $144k · 107 announced
  4. + Dungeon CrawlerPoor odds10 devs · median $144k · 80 announced
  5. + CraftingPoor odds25 devs · median $111k · 155 announced
  6. + MagicPoor odds11 devs · median $111k · 109 announced
  7. + Online Co-OpPoor odds15 devs · median $65k · 130 announced
  8. + FantasyPoor odds27 devs · median $61k · 232 announced
  9. + Class-BasedPoor odds7 devs · median $61k · 57 announced
  10. + Open WorldPoor odds33 devs · median $52k · 252 announced
  11. + Character CustomizationPoor odds28 devs · median $52k · 217 announced
  12. + ExplorationPoor odds24 devs · median $52k · 213 announced

All 71 pairs on the MMORPG page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Naval Action $19.99 10,187 52% 306k $6.1M (exactly $6,109,144) Bermuda Computer Club
Life is Feudal: Your Own $19.99 8,804 65% 264k $5.3M (exactly $5,279,759) Bitbox Ltd.
Подвиги древних Русов $1.99 3 66% 90 $179 (exactly $179) MomentGameStudio
League of Immortals $19.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Inferno Entertainment LLC
Trumps Of Albion $10.00 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Ka Yan Liu

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