Games › MMORPG › MMORPG + Third-Person Shooter
Should I ship a Third-Person Shooter MMORPG?
MMORPG + Third-Person Shooter
Only 9 developers shipped a paid Third-Person Shooter MMORPG in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 5 in 10 of the games here are free to play and sit outside these figures. 26 more are announced, ×13 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 10 / 10 build.
Only 2 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $13k against a market of $1.3k. 26 games are announced.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $13k (exactly $12,529) |
| Top 25% | $125k (exactly $124,871) |
| Top 5% | $3.6M (exactly $3,637,194) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 41 |
| Announced | 26 |
| Effort | 10 / 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 70% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 49%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- MMORPG
- effort 10 / 10 · low · persistent world servers and a live economy
- Third-Person Shooter
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
What it takes
- Effort
- 10 / 10 · studio only
- Systems
- MMORPG, Third-Person Shooter
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 166,800 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 5 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 26 games are announced against 2 developers who shipped in the last year, ×13 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
MMORPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LootPoor odds
- + TradingPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Dungeon CrawlerPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + MagicPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + FantasyPoor odds
- + Class-BasedPoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + Character CustomizationPoor odds
- + ExplorationPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tom Clancy’s The Division™ | older | $29.99 | 76,985 72% | 2.3M | $69M (exactly $69,263,404) | Massive Entertainment |
| | Red Dead Online | older | $19.99 | 59,572 82% | 1.8M | $36M (exactly $35,725,328) | Rockstar Games |
| | Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet | older | $19.99 | 15,461 79% | 464k | $9.3M (exactly $9,271,962) | Dimps Corporation |
| | SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream | $59.99 | 2,021 64% | 61k | $3.6M (exactly $3,637,194) | Dimps Corporation | |
| | Age of Water | $29.99 | 2,883 72% | 86k | $2.6M (exactly $2,593,835) | Three Whales Studio | |
| | Next Day: Survival | older | $9.99 | 8,623 62% | 259k | $2.6M (exactly $2,584,313) | SOFF Games |
| | Paw Patrol: On A Roll! | older | $29.99 | 345 84% | 10k | $310k (exactly $310,396) | Torus Games |
| | Afterinfection | $8.99 | 463 56% | 14k | $125k (exactly $124,871) | RePatrick21 | |
| | Tru Or Die | older | $9.99 | 336 52% | 10k | $101k (exactly $100,699) | Tru Hunnit |
| | Ice World | $9.99 | 111 57% | 3.3k | $33k (exactly $33,267) | CoolRabbit Games | |
| | Wild Alone | $10.99 | 38 47% | 1.1k | $13k (exactly $12,529) | Wild Alone 21 | |
| | Venator Universe | · EA | $4.99 | 22 63% | 660 | $3.3k (exactly $3,293) | Fullset Gaming |
| | Floral Fury Online | $9.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $599 (exactly $599) | Yücel Sabah | |
| | Forbidden zone | $4.99 | 3 0% | 90 | $449 (exactly $449) | Karuna | |
| | Yuki Onna: Snowball Fight! | $1.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $239 (exactly $239) | YStar |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.