Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Party Game

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Party Game?

PvE + Party Game

Of 94 developers who shipped a PvE Party 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.. 241 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 84 developers shipped in the last year and 241 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 75% on the market, 241 announced, ×2.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Party Game
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 94
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.9k → $2.4k → $7.2k → $5.8k → $2.2k → $537 → $449 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Party Game: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 94
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $299 (exactly $299)
Top 25% $1.9k (exactly $1,946)
Top 5% $87k (exactly $87,381)
Developers, 2 yr 94
Released games 146
Announced 241
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $4.99

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 75% on the market, supply 665% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, 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.

PvE
effort 6 / 10 · low · online co-op against AI still needs the whole netcode stack
Party Game
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
PvE, Party Game; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op, Online Co-Op
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Funny, 3D, Comedy
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 6,206 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $300, 1 in 4 over $1.9k, 1 in 20 over $87k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 8 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 241 games are announced against 84 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Dating SimFair17 devs · median $2.4k · 23 announced
  2. + IdlerFair161 devs · median $1.0k · 229 announced
  3. + MinigamesFair9 devs · median $899 · 14 announced
  4. + TypingFair23 devs · median $719 · 27 announced
  5. + Extraction ShooterPoor odds44 devs · median $163k · 97 announced
  6. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds50 devs · median $85k · 120 announced
  7. + HeistPoor odds18 devs · median $30k · 50 announced
  8. + MMORPGPoor odds34 devs · median $25k · 248 announced
  9. + Real-TimePoor odds10 devs · median $20k · 24 announced
  10. + NavalPoor odds21 devs · median $11k · 59 announced
  11. + SpaceshipsPoor odds16 devs · median $6.3k · 20 announced
  12. + MarsPoor odds10 devs · median $6.3k · 13 announced

All 243 pairs on the PvE page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Draw & Guess 2021 · $4.7M Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Party Dash 2024 · $1.9M Voyagers of Nera 2025 · EA · $1.8M Neighbors: Suburban Warfare 2025 · EA · $571k DOKAPON! Sword of Fury 2025 · $265k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Draw & Guess older $4.99 31,627 83% 949k $4.7M (exactly $4,734,562) Acureus
Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Party Dash older $44.99 1,429 75% 43k $1.9M (exactly $1,928,721) Cygames, Inc., Arc System Works
Voyagers of Nera · EA $29.99 2,022 83% 61k $1.8M (exactly $1,819,193) Treehouse Games
Neighbors: Suburban Warfare · EA $9.99 1,906 66% 57k $571k (exactly $571,228) Invisible Walls
DOKAPON! Sword of Fury $24.99 354 85% 11k $265k (exactly $265,394) Sting
SUPER BOMBERMAN R 2 older $49.99 149 53% 4.5k $223k (exactly $223,455) KONAMI
DunHero $8.99 530 89% 16k $143k (exactly $142,941) Dev Kacper
What The Dub?! older $7.99 386 91% 12k $93k (exactly $92,524) Wide Right Interactive, Mark Zorn, Kurt… (Wide Right Interactive, Mark Zorn, Kurt Wojda)
MACHI KORO With Everyone older $24.99 119 66% 3.6k $89k (exactly $89,214) Grounding Inc.
WASD : The Adventure of Tori $3.99 730 83% 22k $87k (exactly $87,381) EVNA Games
Frog Sqwad 🐸 $7.99 352 72% 11k $84k (exactly $84,374) Panic Stations
災難公關+ $7.99 112 90% 3.4k $27k (exactly $26,846) TamaniDamani
Burgle Supply Company $7.99 85 88% 2.6k $20k (exactly $20,374) Terrible Posture Games
SharedScreen Wagons 2 $9.99 52 98% 1.6k $16k (exactly $15,584) Anti-Ded GameDev
Vasilisa $6.99 63 74% 1.9k $13k (exactly $13,211) Steppe Hare Studio

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