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Should I ship a PvE Multiple Endings game?
PvE + Multiple Endings
Of 155 developers who shipped a PvE Multiple Endings 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.. 369 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $810, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $120k, ×203 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 369 games are announced against 94 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $807 (exactly $807) |
| Top 25% | $6.0k (exactly $5,994) |
| Top 5% | $127k (exactly $127,449) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 155 |
| Released games | 343 |
| Announced | 369 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 down 65% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Multiple Endings
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE, Multiple Endings; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, RPG
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Story Rich, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 81,192 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 79 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 369 games are announced against 94 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvE with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + IdlerFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + TypingFair
- + Extraction ShooterPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + HeistPoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + NavalPoor odds
- + SpaceshipsPoor odds
- + MarsPoor odds
Comparable games
Stellar Blade™ 2025 · $110M 
BIGFOOT 2017 · EA · $11M 
Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days 2025 · EA · $6.8M 
Lost Castle / 失落城堡 2016 · $5.5M 
STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R 2023 · $4.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Stellar Blade™ | $59.99 | 61,289 93% | 1.8M | $110M (exactly $110,301,813) | SHIFT UP Corporation | |
| | BIGFOOT | · EA older | $19.99 | 17,818 83% | 535k | $11M (exactly $10,685,455) | CyberLight Game Studio |
| | Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days | · EA | $24.99 | 9,049 89% | 271k | $6.8M (exactly $6,784,035) | PikPok |
| | Lost Castle / 失落城堡 | older | $9.99 | 18,417 87% | 553k | $5.5M (exactly $5,519,575) | Hunter Studio |
| | STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R | older | $49.99 | 3,229 92% | 97k | $4.8M (exactly $4,842,531) | Square Enix, Gemdrops, Inc. |
 | The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition | older | $39.99 | 2,841 74% | 85k | $3.4M (exactly $3,408,348) | Obsidian Entertainment, Virtuos Games |
 | GRIME II | $27.99 | 1,892 86% | 57k | $1.6M (exactly $1,588,712) | Clover Bite | |
 | Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection | older | $29.99 | 1,306 74% | 39k | $1.2M (exactly $1,175,008) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
 | Train Valley 2 | older | $14.99 | 2,356 90% | 71k | $1.1M (exactly $1,059,493) | Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timof… (Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm) |
 | Salt and Sacrifice | older | $19.99 | 1,738 62% | 52k | $1.0M (exactly $1,042,279) | Devoured Studios, Ska Studios |
 | Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (1999) | $9.99 | 2,329 89% | 70k | $698k (exactly $698,001) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
 | Card-en-Ciel | $24.99 | 856 90% | 26k | $642k (exactly $641,743) | INTI CREATES CO., LTD. | |
 | Resident Evil 2 (1998) | $9.99 | 2,084 90% | 63k | $625k (exactly $624,575) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
 | Resident Evil (1996) | $9.99 | 1,602 90% | 48k | $480k (exactly $480,119) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
 | Dino Crisis | $9.99 | 947 80% | 28k | $284k (exactly $283,816) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
 | Dino Crisis 2 | $9.99 | 709 87% | 21k | $212k (exactly $212,487) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
 | CRYO | · EA | $14.99 | 435 86% | 13k | $196k (exactly $195,620) | Valko Game Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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