Should I ship a Noir PvE game?
PvE + Noir
Of 23 developers who shipped a Noir PvE 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.. 61 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $260k, ×427 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 61 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,317) |
| Top 25% | $14k (exactly $13,630) |
| Top 5% | $268k (exactly $268,021) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 65 |
| Announced | 61 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 90% on the market, supply 185% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 23%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action RPG, Exploration
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 3D, Dark Comedy
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 3,534 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 7 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 61 games are announced against 17 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvE with a different setting or mood, 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
Menace from the Deep 2024 · $1.3M 
Hell is Others 2022 · $446k 
The Divine Invasion 2021 · $310k 
Jackal 2026 · $268k 
HOTEL BARCELONA 2025 · $242k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Menace from the Deep | $16.99 | 2,466 84% | 74k | $1.3M (exactly $1,256,920) | Flat Lab | |
| | Hell is Others | older | $14.99 | 991 73% | 30k | $446k (exactly $445,653) | Strelka Games, Yonder |
| | The Divine Invasion | older | $14.99 | 690 79% | 21k | $310k (exactly $310,293) | Whale Rock Games |
| | Jackal | $14.99 | 596 88% | 18k | $268k (exactly $268,021) | Transhuman Design | |
| | HOTEL BARCELONA | $29.99 | 269 71% | 8.1k | $242k (exactly $242,019) | White Owls Inc. | |
 | Hellbreach: Vegas | older | $14.99 | 504 74% | 15k | $227k (exactly $226,649) | Infinity Ape Studios |
 | 7th Sector | older | $10.99 | 643 72% | 19k | $212k (exactly $211,997) | Носков Сергей |
 | Vigilantes | older | $14.99 | 276 80% | 8.3k | $124k (exactly $124,117) | Timeslip Softworks |
 | Lovecraft's Untold Stories 2 | older | $19.99 | 130 37% | 3.9k | $78k (exactly $77,961) | LLC Blini Games |
 | Revenge of the Boxer: Moscow Criminality | older | $4.99 | 166 90% | 5.0k | $25k (exactly $24,850) | Alligator Friends Software |
 | Cthulhu's Reach: Devil Reef | $9.99 | 68 80% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $20,380) | The Fine Arc | |
 | Outbreak: Shades of Horror Chromatic Split | $24.99 | 24 50% | 720 | $18k (exactly $17,993) | Dead Drop Studios LLC | |
 | DOOMED Detective Game | $6.99 | 65 46% | 2.0k | $14k (exactly $13,630) | Azikton Studio | |
 | DeadWire | $9.99 | 18 100% | 540 | $5.4k (exactly $5,395) | Shotgun Anaconda | |
 | Empire of Vice : Chicago | · EA | $16.99 | 9 77% | 270 | $4.6k (exactly $4,587) | Artifex Parvus |
 | HeroInc | · EA | $8.99 | 10 90% | 300 | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) | Nue Games |
 | Smoke Town | $6.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $1.9k (exactly $1,887) | TSRV |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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