Do I ship it?

Games › PvP › PvP + Incremental

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvP Incremental game?

PvP + Incremental

Of 36 developers who shipped a PvP Incremental 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.. 48 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×0.8 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $60. Revenue is up 775% on the market; 48 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 0.8 times the market baseline, revenue up 775% on the market, 48 announced, ×1.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvP + Incremental
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 36
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.9k → $2.2k → $359 → $1.2k → $1.9k → $179 (still earning) → $1.4k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvP + Incremental: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 36
Bottom 30% $60 (exactly $60)
Median $1.2k (exactly $1,166)
Top 25% $4.6k (exactly $4,554)
Top 5% $337k (exactly $337,462)
Developers, 2 yr 36
Released games 112
Announced 48
Effort 8 / 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 775% on the market, supply 200% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 36%, 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
Incremental
effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
PvP, Incremental; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, RPG, Simulation
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 77% positive over 5,427 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $60, median $1.2k, 1 in 4 over $4.5k, 1 in 20 over $330k.

3 in 10 developers made under $60. 8 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.

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. + BilliardsFair18 devs · median $1.1k · 12 announced
  9. + TennisLong shot17 devs · median $899 · 15 announced
  10. + TypingLong shot28 devs · median $719 · 31 announced
  11. + SpellingLong shot14 devs · median $719 · 17 announced
  12. + Match 3Long shot21 devs · median $505 · 29 announced

All 247 pairs on the PvP page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

BitCraft Online 2025 · EA · $1.6M Q-UP 2025 · $337k Age of Clicks 2026 · EA · $184k Adventure Land - The Code MMORPG 2026 · $65k Cart Racer 2017 · $54k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
BitCraft Online · EA $15.99 3,334 72% 100k $1.6M (exactly $1,599,320) Clockwork Laboratories, Inc.
Q-UP $9.99 1,126 93% 34k $337k (exactly $337,462) Everybody House Games
Age of Clicks · EA $12.99 472 65% 14k $184k (exactly $183,938) David Ius
Adventure Land - The Code MMORPG $14.99 144 84% 4.3k $65k (exactly $64,757) Wizard
Cart Racer older $1.99 900 77% 27k $54k (exactly $53,730) HFM Games
CyberTD older $19.99 50 66% 1.5k $30k (exactly $29,985) Clockwork Origins
Sit-Back Attack · EA $8.99 110 78% 3.3k $30k (exactly $29,667) Stapleton
Royal Merchant older $4.99 75 62% 2.3k $11k (exactly $11,228) Badim
Upgradia · EA $9.99 32 65% 960 $9.6k (exactly $9,590) Mytharia
One More 6ix $1.99 147 99% 4.4k $8.8k (exactly $8,776) Crazish Games
Nuice Industries · EA $7.99 25 96% 750 $6.0k (exactly $5,992) CastleWind
Dirtnap · EA $7.99 19 84% 570 $4.6k (exactly $4,554) Unstable Entity, Part Time Monkey, Nitr… (Unstable Entity, Part Time Monkey, Nitroyale)
公考刷题模拟器-我要上岸 $3.99 18 61% 540 $2.2k (exactly $2,155) DoubleGame

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