Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Programming

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Programming game?

PvE + Programming

Only 15 developers shipped a PvE Programming game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Omega Crafter, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 29 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $810, ×1.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $390k, ×632 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 29 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.3 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 29 announced, ×2.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Programming
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 15
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.5k → $3.3k → $65k → $48k (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Programming: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 15
Bottom 30% $239 (exactly $239)
Median $809 (exactly $809)
Top 25% $48k (exactly $47,952)
Top 5% $397k (exactly $396,591)
Developers, 2 yr 15
Released games 35
Announced 29
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 100% on the market, supply 175% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, 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
Programming
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, Programming; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Sandbox, Building
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 81% positive over 1,636 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $810, 1 in 4 over $47k, 1 in 20 over $390k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 7 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 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

Omega Crafter 2025 · $397k GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena 2019 · $380k Net.Attack() - Code or Die! 2026 · $122k The Bibites: Digital Life 2025 · EA · $65k Age Of Warbots 2026 · $48k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Omega Crafter $24.99 529 77% 16k $397k (exactly $396,591) Preferred Networks
GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena older $14.99 846 87% 25k $380k (exactly $380,446) GFX47
Net.Attack() - Code or Die! $7.99 510 80% 15k $122k (exactly $122,247) ByteRockers' Games
The Bibites: Digital Life · EA $9.99 218 96% 6.5k $65k (exactly $65,335) Omnia Studios
Age Of Warbots $9.99 160 83% 4.8k $48k (exactly $47,952) VDimension
Project Astra Dominium older $9.99 69 88% 2.1k $21k (exactly $20,679) Snob Entertainment UG
UNHUMAN $3.99 161 73% 4.8k $19k (exactly $19,272) Kinda Lowkey Games
Automata Empire older $8.99 48 66% 1.4k $13k (exactly $12,946) Nonadecimal Creative
Kinetype · EA $6.99 36 83% 1.1k $7.5k (exactly $7,549) Morlytic
Typhon: Bot vs Bot · EA $19.99 12 75% 360 $7.2k (exactly $7,196) Brightshade Games
Dungeon-Bot $8.99 3 100% 90 $809 (exactly $809) XREALL
Battle Bits $4.99 5 40% 150 $748 (exactly $748) NecoPlanet
Compile & Defend $4.99 2 50% 60 $299 (exactly $299) Codx.io

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