Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Inventory Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Inventory Management game?

PvE + Inventory Management

Of 189 developers who shipped a PvE Inventory Management 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.. 462 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $480k, ×766 the market median. Revenue is up 235% on the market; 462 games are announced against 138 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 2.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 235% on the market, 462 announced, ×3.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Inventory Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 189
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $629 → $1.0k → $1.1k → $359 → $1.1k → $1.5k → $1.8k (still earning) → $2.3k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Inventory Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 189
Bottom 30% $300 (exactly $300)
Median $1.3k (exactly $1,349)
Top 25% $17k (exactly $16,639)
Top 5% $481k (exactly $480,959)
Developers, 2 yr 189
Released games 371
Announced 462
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $8.99

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 235% on the market, supply 165% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 21%, 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
Inventory Management
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

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, Inventory Management; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Combat, Online Co-Op
Price point
$8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 376,359 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $1.3k, 1 in 4 over $16k, 1 in 20 over $480k.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 70 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 462 games are announced against 138 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 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

ARC Raiders 2025 · $359M ARK: Survival Ascended 2023 · EA · $144M Marathon 2026 · $54M Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront 2021 · $34M Ghosts of Tabor 2023 · EA · $6.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
ARC Raiders $39.99 299,346 82% 9.0M $359M (exactly $359,125,396) Embark Studios
ARK: Survival Ascended · EA older $44.99 106,761 60% 3.2M $144M (exactly $144,095,322) Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, In… (Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, Instinct Games)
Marathon $39.99 44,919 81% 1.3M $54M (exactly $53,889,324) Bungie
Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront older $34.99 32,183 85% 965k $34M (exactly $33,782,495) Barbedwire Studios, Digitalmindsoft
Ghosts of Tabor · EA older $24.99 9,140 70% 274k $6.9M (exactly $6,852,258) Combat Waffle Studios
Sephiria $17.99 11,582 94% 347k $6.3M (exactly $6,250,805) TEAM HORAY
Road to Vostok · EA $19.99 8,646 84% 259k $5.2M (exactly $5,185,006) Road to Vostok Ltd.
Survive the Nights $19.99 4,719 68% 142k $2.8M (exactly $2,829,984) a2z Interactive
Witchspire · EA $22.99 1,849 82% 55k $1.3M (exactly $1,275,255) Envar Games
CarX Drift Racing Online 2 · EA $24.99 1,222 71% 37k $916k (exactly $916,133) CarX Technologies, LLC
Ukrainian Warfare: Gostomel Heroes $14.99 1,921 90% 58k $864k (exactly $863,874) Cats Who Play
Raiders of Blackveil · EA $19.99 1,353 60% 41k $811k (exactly $811,394) Wombo Games
Dagger Directive $19.99 802 83% 24k $481k (exactly $480,959) Arcane Alpacas LLC

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