Do I ship it?

Games › PvP › PvP + Party Game

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvP Party Game?

PvP + Party Game

Of 478 developers who shipped a PvP 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.. 946 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $540, ×0.4 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $89. 946 games are announced against 395 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper, while revenue is down 65% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 65% on the market, 946 announced, ×2.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvP + Party Game
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 478
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.4k → $3.1k → $3.0k → $2.1k → $2.2k → $1.3k → $539 (still earning) → $178 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvP + Party Game: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 478
Bottom 30% $89 (exactly $89)
Median $539 (exactly $539)
Top 25% $3.4k (exactly $3,443)
Top 5% $57k (exactly $57,288)
Developers, 2 yr 478
Released games 883
Announced 946
Effort 8 / 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 370% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, 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
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
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
PvP, Party Game; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Online Co-Op, Co-op
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Funny, Colorful, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 29,363 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $89, median $540, 1 in 4 over $3.4k, 1 in 20 over $57k.

3 in 10 developers made under $89. 8 in 10 of the 105 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 946 games are announced against 395 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvP with a different second tag, 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

Among Us 2018 · $99M Party Animals 2023 · $34M Gang Beasts 2017 · $33M Ultimate Chicken Horse 2016 · $18M UNO 2017 · $13M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Among Us older $4.99 659,003 92% 20M $99M (exactly $98,652,749) Innersloth
Party Animals older $19.99 56,043 81% 1.7M $34M (exactly $33,608,987) Recreate Games
Gang Beasts older $19.99 54,880 85% 1.6M $33M (exactly $32,911,536) Boneloaf, Rocket Science
Ultimate Chicken Horse older $14.99 41,060 95% 1.2M $18M (exactly $18,464,682) Clever Endeavour Games
UNO older $9.99 42,019 70% 1.3M $13M (exactly $12,593,094) Ubisoft Entertainment
ROUNDS older $5.99 35,738 95% 1.1M $6.4M (exactly $6,422,119) Landfall
Tricky Towers older $14.99 12,390 90% 372k $5.6M (exactly $5,571,783) WeirdBeard
Draw & Guess older $4.99 31,627 83% 949k $4.7M (exactly $4,734,562) Acureus
Super Bunny Man older $14.99 10,143 85% 304k $4.6M (exactly $4,561,307) Catobyte
Super Battle Golf $12.99 9,325 93% 280k $3.6M (exactly $3,633,952) Brimstone
Backyard Baseball $39.99 1,210 80% 36k $1.5M (exactly $1,451,637) Mega Cat Studios
Machine Party $7.99 4,199 87% 126k $1.0M (exactly $1,006,500) Mike Klubnika, GDeavid
Guilty as Sock! $5.50 4,836 89% 145k $798k (exactly $797,940) Demon Max
Feign $4.99 5,270 91% 158k $789k (exactly $788,919) Teneke Kafalar
Neighbors: Suburban Warfare · EA $9.99 1,906 66% 57k $571k (exactly $571,228) Invisible Walls
NEW MONOPOLY® $29.99 531 36% 16k $478k (exactly $477,741) UBISOFT, Engine Software
The Jackbox Party Pack 11 $29.99 419 93% 13k $377k (exactly $376,974) Jackbox Games, Inc.
A Gentlemen's Dispute $7.99 1,199 94% 36k $287k (exactly $287,400) Blast Furnace Games
Youtubers Life 3 $19.99 468 50% 14k $281k (exactly $280,660) UPLAY Online

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