Games › PvE › PvE + Platformer
Should I ship a PvE Platformer?
PvE + Platformer
Of 267 developers who shipped a PvE Platformer 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.. 467 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 144 developers shipped in the last year and 467 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $360 (exactly $360) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,397) |
| Top 5% | $33k (exactly $32,987) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 267 |
| Released games | 704 |
| Announced | 467 |
| 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 up 125% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, 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
- Platformer
- 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, Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, 2D Platformer
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 17,426 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. 9 in 10 of the 157 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 467 games are announced against 144 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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
Crab Champions 2023 · EA · $8.0M 
White Knuckle 2025 · EA · $6.8M 
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed 2020 · $2.8M 
Dungeons of Hinterberg 2024 · $1.7M 
MEGA MAN X DiVE Offline 2023 · $1.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Crab Champions | · EA older | $9.99 | 26,546 97% | 796k | $8.0M (exactly $7,955,836) | Noisestorm |
| | White Knuckle | · EA | $16.99 | 13,356 98% | 401k | $6.8M (exactly $6,807,553) | Dark Machine Games |
| | HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed | older | $24.99 | 3,798 90% | 114k | $2.8M (exactly $2,847,361) | Digital Cybercherries |
| | Dungeons of Hinterberg | older | $22.99 | 2,403 93% | 72k | $1.7M (exactly $1,657,349) | Microbird Games |
| | MEGA MAN X DiVE Offline | older | $29.99 | 1,760 80% | 53k | $1.6M (exactly $1,583,472) | 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) |
 | Contra: Operation Galuga | older | $39.99 | 810 87% | 24k | $972k (exactly $971,757) | WayForward |
 | Alien Hominid Invasion | older | $19.99 | 1,572 88% | 47k | $943k (exactly $942,728) | The Behemoth |
 | JUMP KING QUEST | $14.99 | 1,202 88% | 36k | $541k (exactly $540,539) | Nexile | |
 | Portal Dungeon | older | $14.99 | 995 88% | 30k | $447k (exactly $447,452) | Dusk Dog Studio |
 | Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse | $16.99 | 543 72% | 16k | $277k (exactly $276,767) | Frontside 180 | |
 | Voodoo Fishin' | · EA | $9.99 | 800 81% | 24k | $240k (exactly $239,760) | Lost Arcade |
 | INAYAH - Life after Gods | $15.99 | 230 71% | 6.9k | $110k (exactly $110,331) | Exogenesis Studios | |
 | Portal Fantasy | $14.99 | 210 62% | 6.3k | $94k (exactly $94,437) | Portal Fantasy | |
 | Decline's Drops | $14.99 | 170 96% | 5.1k | $76k (exactly $76,449) | Le Moulin aux Bulles | |
 | Drill Bird | $4.99 | 379 97% | 11k | $57k (exactly $56,736) | Sebastian Larsson, Andrea Harty, Hampus… (Sebastian Larsson, Andrea Harty, Hampus Melin , Isabelle Neuman, Luiza Flores da Cunha) | |
 | 4Wheel Challenge | $3.99 | 409 57% | 12k | $49k (exactly $48,957) | LJ3D STUDIOS | |
 | CYBERMATRIX | $12.00 | 127 89% | 3.8k | $46k (exactly $45,720) | Tim Murich |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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