Do I ship it?

Games › PvP › PvP + Mechs

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Mech PvP game?

PvP + Mechs

Of 22 developers who shipped a Mech PvP 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.. 73 more are announced, ×7.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $13k, ×9.0 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $8.0M, ×5360 the market median. Revenue is up 345% on the market; 73 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 9.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 345% on the market, 73 announced, ×7.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvP + Mechs
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 22
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.8k → $7.2k → $3.1k → $13k → $52k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvP + Mechs: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 22
Bottom 30% $899 (exactly $899)
Median $13k (exactly $13,491)
Top 25% $338k (exactly $338,287)
Top 5% $8.0M (exactly $8,029,843)
Developers, 2 yr 22
Released games 96
Announced 73
Effort 8 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $11.99

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 345% on the market, supply 15% fewer 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.

PvP
effort 8 / 10 · low · authoritative servers, latency compensation, cheating
Mechs
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
PvP; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, FPS
Price point
$11.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Anime
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.

The top 10 games average 67% positive over 37,081 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $900, median $13k, 1 in 4 over $330k, 1 in 20 over $8.0M.

3 in 10 developers made under $900. 5 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 73 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×7.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvP with a different setting or mood, 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. + IncrementalFair36 devs · median $1.2k · 48 announced
  9. + BilliardsFair18 devs · median $1.1k · 12 announced
  10. + TennisLong shot17 devs · median $899 · 15 announced
  11. + TypingLong shot28 devs · median $719 · 31 announced
  12. + SpellingLong shot14 devs · median $719 · 17 announced

All 247 pairs on the PvP page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Titanfall® 2 2020 · $229M Call of Duty®: Advanced Warfare - Gold Edition 2014 · $13M Iron Harvest 2020 · $11M Planetary Annihilation: TITANS 2015 · $10M Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense 2021 · $9.5M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Titanfall® 2 older $29.99 255,050 95% 7.7M $229M (exactly $229,468,485) Respawn Entertainment
Call of Duty®: Advanced Warfare - Gold Edition older $39.99 11,103 64% 333k $13M (exactly $13,320,269) Sledgehammer Games, Raven Software
Iron Harvest older $29.99 11,682 74% 350k $11M (exactly $10,510,295) KING Art
Planetary Annihilation: TITANS older $29.99 11,401 84% 342k $10M (exactly $10,257,480) Planetary Annihilation Inc
Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense older $24.99 12,607 86% 378k $9.5M (exactly $9,451,468) AutoAttack Games
SAND: Raiders of Sophie · EA $24.99 12,485 49% 375k $9.4M (exactly $9,360,004) Hologryph, TowerHaus
DAEMON X MACHINA older $49.99 6,172 85% 185k $9.3M (exactly $9,256,148) Marvelous Inc.
Mechabellum $14.99 17,856 84% 536k $8.0M (exactly $8,029,843) Game River
Airships: Conquer the Skies older $24.99 6,197 95% 186k $4.6M (exactly $4,645,891) David Stark
Exoprimal older $59.99 2,581 76% 77k $4.6M (exactly $4,645,026) CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada $39.99 3,303 40% 99k $4.0M (exactly $3,962,609) Game Studio Inc.
IRON REBELLION $24.99 772 84% 23k $579k (exactly $578,768) Black Beach Studio
EMPULSE · EA $9.99 1,701 60% 51k $510k (exactly $509,790) 1047 Games
Iron Saga VS $29.99 376 79% 11k $338k (exactly $338,287) Gameduchy
BREAK ARTS III $17.99 334 80% 10k $180k (exactly $180,260) MercuryStudio
ACE Strategy: Mecha Nova $14.99 115 78% 3.5k $52k (exactly $51,716) EMINA STUDIO
SHRIMP GAME: OVERKRILL $11.99 93 89% 2.8k $33k (exactly $33,452) GasGod Games, GLUE MAN
Echoes of the Architects $9.99 46 80% 1.4k $14k (exactly $13,786) GFX47

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