Do I ship it?

Games › Looter Shooter › Looter Shooter + PvP

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvP Looter Shooter?

Looter Shooter + PvP

Of 32 developers who shipped a PvP Looter Shooter 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.. 127 more are announced, ×7.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.5k, ×1.7 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $25M, ×17296 the market median. Revenue is up 60% on the market; 127 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 60% on the market, 127 announced, ×7.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Looter Shooter + PvP
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 32
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $230k → $119 → $180 → $2.8k → $1.8k → $30k → $900 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Looter Shooter + PvP: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 32
Bottom 30% $120 (exactly $120)
Median $2.5k (exactly $2,516)
Top 25% $82k (exactly $81,713)
Top 5% $26M (exactly $25,909,632)
Developers, 2 yr 32
Released games 118
Announced 127
Effort 8 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $9.99

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 60% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 38%, 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.

Looter Shooter
effort 8 / 10 · low · online co-op and a loot economy on top of a shooter
PvP
effort 8 / 10 · low · authoritative servers, latency compensation, cheating

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
Looter Shooter, PvP; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Shooter, Action, FPS
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Realistic
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 59% positive over 104,330 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 $2.5k, 1 in 4 over $81k, 1 in 20 over $25M.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 6 in 10 of the 28 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 127 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year, ×7.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Looter Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + MechsFair13 devs · median $219k · 14 announced
  2. + Vehicular CombatFair11 devs · median $15k · 14 announced
  3. + IdlerFair16 devs · median $1.2k · 8 announced
  4. + 3D PlatformerLong shot23 devs · median $449 · 16 announced
  5. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds31 devs · median $71k · 73 announced
  6. + Online Co-OpPoor odds54 devs · median $25k · 136 announced
  7. + Co-opPoor odds56 devs · median $25k · 124 announced
  8. + Twin Stick ShooterPoor odds18 devs · median $16k · 44 announced
  9. + DystopianPoor odds14 devs · median $10k · 45 announced
  10. + Base BuildingPoor odds36 devs · median $9.1k · 74 announced
  11. + Character CustomizationPoor odds50 devs · median $9.0k · 151 announced
  12. + Inventory ManagementPoor odds27 devs · median $6.9k · 61 announced

All 90 pairs on the Looter Shooter page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Escape from Tarkov 2025 · $84M Tom Clancy’s The Division® 2 2023 · $29M Deadside 2024 · $26M Marauders 2022 · EA · $12M Ghosts of Tabor 2023 · EA · $6.9M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Escape from Tarkov $49.99 55,824 49% 1.7M $84M (exactly $83,719,253) Battlestate Games
Tom Clancy’s The Division® 2 older $29.99 32,600 79% 978k $29M (exactly $29,330,220) Ubisoft
Deadside $24.99 34,560 76% 1.0M $26M (exactly $25,909,632) Bad Pixel
Marauders · EA older $29.99 13,505 68% 405k $12M (exactly $12,150,448) Small Impact Games
Ghosts of Tabor · EA older $24.99 9,140 70% 274k $6.9M (exactly $6,852,258) Combat Waffle Studios
Wildgate $29.99 5,032 77% 151k $4.5M (exactly $4,527,290) Moonshot Games
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada $39.99 3,303 40% 99k $4.0M (exactly $3,962,609) Game Studio Inc.
PIONER · EA $29.99 3,205 62% 96k $2.9M (exactly $2,883,538) GFAGAMES
DeadPoly · EA older $9.99 5,384 78% 162k $1.6M (exactly $1,613,585) TFL Games
The Midnight Walkers · EA $19.99 1,479 54% 44k $887k (exactly $886,956) Oneway Ticket Studio
Afterinfection $8.99 463 56% 14k $125k (exactly $124,871) RePatrick21
Exit Ways · EA $11.69 233 22% 7.0k $82k (exactly $81,713) ASKES
Grim $19.99 131 53% 3.9k $79k (exactly $78,561) Spoonfed Interactive
Dustland · EA $22.99 100 69% 3.0k $69k (exactly $68,970) RedPad Games

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