Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Idler

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Idler?

PvE + Idler

Of 161 developers who shipped a PvE Idler 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.. 229 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is flat on the market; 229 games are announced against 119 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.7 times the market baseline, revenue flat on the market, 229 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Idler
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 161
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.5k → $298 → $6.1k → $3.4k → $2.1k → $1.5k → $1.1k (still earning) → $599 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Idler: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 161
Bottom 30% $359 (exactly $359)
Median $1.0k (exactly $1,048)
Top 25% $6.6k (exactly $6,593)
Top 5% $184k (exactly $183,938)
Developers, 2 yr 161
Released games 322
Announced 229
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 flat on the market, supply 175% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 25%, 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
Idler
effort 1 / 10 · high · number growth curves and a UI

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, Idler; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Incremental, RPG, Auto Battler
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 20,733 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $360, median $1.0k, 1 in 4 over $6.5k, 1 in 20 over $180k.

3 in 10 developers made under $360. 7 in 10 of the 56 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 229 games are announced against 119 developers who shipped in the last year.

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. + MinigamesFair9 devs · median $899 · 14 announced
  3. + TypingFair23 devs · median $719 · 27 announced
  4. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds44 devs · median $163k · 97 announced
  5. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds50 devs · median $85k · 120 announced
  6. + HeistPoor odds18 devs · median $30k · 50 announced
  7. + MMORPGPoor odds34 devs · median $25k · 248 announced
  8. + Real-TimePoor odds10 devs · median $20k · 24 announced
  9. + NavalPoor odds21 devs · median $11k · 59 announced
  10. + SpaceshipsPoor odds16 devs · median $6.3k · 20 announced
  11. + MarsPoor odds10 devs · median $6.3k · 13 announced
  12. + DinosaursPoor odds28 devs · median $5.4k · 43 announced

All 243 pairs on the PvE page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Lessaria: Fantasy Kingdom Sim 2025 · $2.2M BitCraft Online 2025 · EA · $1.6M Sir, We Have an Orc Problem 2026 · $1.2M Horripilant 2026 · $702k Dark Hunting Ground 2025 · $300k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Lessaria: Fantasy Kingdom Sim $24.90 2,938 77% 88k $2.2M (exactly $2,194,686) Rockbee Team
BitCraft Online · EA $15.99 3,334 72% 100k $1.6M (exactly $1,599,320) Clockwork Laboratories, Inc.
Sir, We Have an Orc Problem $9.99 4,123 86% 124k $1.2M (exactly $1,235,663) Mumpitz Games
Horripilant $7.99 2,928 92% 88k $702k (exactly $701,842) Alexandre Declos , Pas Game Studio
Dark Hunting Ground $12.99 771 92% 23k $300k (exactly $300,459) BingX
Master Healer Kale with useless party $4.99 1,879 95% 56k $281k (exactly $281,286) Evrac Studio
Desktop Defender $4.99 1,757 92% 53k $263k (exactly $263,023) Conradical Games
Nomad Idle $9.99 852 64% 26k $255k (exactly $255,344) The Fox Knocks
Zero Stress King: Idle Defense $4.99 1,679 87% 50k $251k (exactly $251,346) Pauloondra
Age of Clicks · EA $12.99 472 65% 14k $184k (exactly $183,938) David Ius

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