Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Logic

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Logic game?

PvE + Logic

Of 130 developers who shipped a PvE Logic 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.. 163 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 75 developers shipped in the last year and 163 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 115% on the market, 163 announced, ×2.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Logic
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 130
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $450 → $1.5k → $327 → $298 → $359 → $449 → $446 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Logic: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 130
Bottom 30% $119 (exactly $119)
Median $300 (exactly $300)
Top 25% $1.2k (exactly $1,199)
Top 5% $41k (exactly $41,359)
Developers, 2 yr 130
Released games 363
Announced 163
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 up 115% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, 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
Logic
effort 2 / 10 · high · deductive rules and grids

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, Logic; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Puzzle, Turn-Based Strategy
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 89% positive over 7,481 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 $300, 1 in 4 over $1.1k, 1 in 20 over $41k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 68 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 163 games are announced against 75 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 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

XCOM® 2 2016 · $48M Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy 2026 · $5.3M Cobalt Core 2023 · $2.4M Glyphica: Typing Survival 2024 · EA · $746k GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena 2019 · $380k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
XCOM® 2 older $19.99 79,998 84% 2.4M $48M (exactly $47,974,801) Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac),… (Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux))
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy $49.99 3,558 92% 107k $5.3M (exactly $5,335,933) Asobo Studio
Cobalt Core older $19.99 4,067 95% 122k $2.4M (exactly $2,438,980) Rocket Rat Games
Glyphica: Typing Survival · EA $9.99 2,488 90% 75k $746k (exactly $745,654) aliasBLACK
GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena older $14.99 846 87% 25k $380k (exactly $380,446) GFX47
GWENT: Rogue Mage (Single-Player Expansion) older $9.99 1,266 54% 38k $379k (exactly $379,420) CD PROJEKT RED
Quantum Protocol older $12.99 625 90% 19k $244k (exactly $243,562) Kaio Meris
Spectral Scream older $9.99 654 78% 20k $196k (exactly $196,004) STOIC Ent.
Passant: A Chess Roguelike $11.99 363 79% 11k $131k (exactly $130,571) Marc Makes Games
Net.Attack() - Code or Die! $7.99 510 80% 15k $122k (exactly $122,247) ByteRockers' Games
BroomSweeper $17.99 193 75% 5.8k $104k (exactly $104,162) BandsWithLegends
SkyShard: City Battler · EA $14.99 106 97% 3.2k $48k (exactly $47,668) ItsBen321
Future War Tactics: SOF vs Alien Invasion – Turn-Based Strategy $9.99 138 60% 4.1k $41k (exactly $41,359) QuadCom Interactive
Dimwood $14.99 47 100% 1.4k $21k (exactly $21,136) Inkspun LLC
Shards of the Realm $19.99 32 71% 960 $19k (exactly $19,190) Yevhen Rebrakov
Hyper Empire $11.99 46 78% 1.4k $17k (exactly $16,546) Fair Weather Studios

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