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Should I ship a PvE Point & Click game?
PvE + Point & Click
Of 120 developers who shipped a PvE Point & Click 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.. 107 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $240 in the last 2 years and $300 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 68 developers shipped in the last year and 107 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $59 (exactly $59) |
|---|---|
| Median | $239 (exactly $239) |
| Top 25% | $1.3k (exactly $1,259) |
| Top 5% | $22k (exactly $21,878) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 120 |
| Released games | 249 |
| Announced | 107 |
| 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 25% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Point & Click
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE, Point & Click; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Incremental, RPG, Simulation
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Relaxing, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 8,311 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $59. 9 in 10 of the 61 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 107 games are announced against 68 developers who shipped in the last year.
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
BitCraft Online 2025 · EA · $1.6M 
Horripilant 2026 · $702k 
Zup! F 2019 · $463k 
The Black Grimoire: Cursebreaker 2024 · $396k 
Night Shift Nurses 2024 · $356k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BitCraft Online | · EA | $15.99 | 3,334 72% | 100k | $1.6M (exactly $1,599,320) | Clockwork Laboratories, Inc. |
| | Horripilant | $7.99 | 2,928 92% | 88k | $702k (exactly $701,842) | Alexandre Declos , Pas Game Studio | |
| | Zup! F | older | $1.99 | 7,749 96% | 232k | $463k (exactly $462,615) | Quiet River |
| | The Black Grimoire: Cursebreaker | $14.99 | 880 83% | 26k | $396k (exactly $395,736) | Olipa Games | |
| | Night Shift Nurses | $19.99 | 593 84% | 18k | $356k (exactly $355,622) | Shiravune | |
 | Zup! 9 | older | $1.99 | 1,920 95% | 58k | $115k (exactly $114,624) | Quiet River |
 | Five Nights At Floppa | older | $2.99 | 979 95% | 29k | $88k (exactly $87,816) | FreezyCat |
 | Mahjong World Contest (麻将) | older | $14.99 | 193 88% | 5.8k | $87k (exactly $86,792) | Creobit |
 | Miseria | $7.99 | 350 58% | 11k | $84k (exactly $83,895) | Somnambulist Games | |
 | Tower Walker: MMO Grind Simulator | older | $9.99 | 270 77% | 8.1k | $81k (exactly $80,919) | Raptor Claw Games, Millendream |
 | Kaamos: Puzzle Roguelike | $9.99 | 73 87% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,878) | Pepperbox Studios | |
 | FEED MY MECH | $9.99 | 39 64% | 1.2k | $12k (exactly $11,688) | TheManiacMartian | |
 | The OG Cake Factory | $6.99 | 51 74% | 1.5k | $11k (exactly $10,695) | Glaseeze | |
 | Fantastic Findings Hidden Seasons | $11.99 | 29 89% | 870 | $10k (exactly $10,431) | Shapeshift Entertainment ApS | |
 | Guilds of Mountgate | · EA | $9.99 | 34 82% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | Beaver Fever Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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