Should I ship a Romance PvE game?
PvE + Romance
Of 27 developers who shipped a Romance PvE 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.. 55 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.5k, ×7.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.4k; 1 in 20 cleared $260k, ×414 the market median. Revenue is up 85% on the market; 55 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.3k (exactly $1,317) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.5k (exactly $4,496) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $16,184) |
| Top 5% | $260k (exactly $260,146) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 27 |
| Released games | 82 |
| Announced | 55 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 85% on the market, supply 185% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Action, RPG
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 1,801 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.4k. 6 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvE with a different setting or mood, 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
Wars and Roses 2022 · $1.5M 
Wedding Witch 2023 · $666k 
BoneTown: The Second Coming Edition 2021 · $462k 
Night Shift Nurses 2024 · $356k 
AURA: Hentai Cards 2023 · $313k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Wars and Roses | older | $19.99 | 2,435 42% | 73k | $1.5M (exactly $1,460,270) | Blaze Worlds |
| | Wedding Witch | older | $4.99 | 4,451 89% | 134k | $666k (exactly $666,315) | Chowbie |
| | BoneTown: The Second Coming Edition | older | $19.99 | 770 84% | 23k | $462k (exactly $461,769) | D-Dub Software |
| | Night Shift Nurses | $19.99 | 593 84% | 18k | $356k (exactly $355,622) | Shiravune | |
| | AURA: Hentai Cards | older | $9.99 | 1,045 80% | 31k | $313k (exactly $313,186) | TopHouse Studio, AniCore Team |
 | Tamer: King of Dinosaurs | · EA | $24.99 | 347 86% | 10k | $260k (exactly $260,146) | Ride the Lion Studios |
 | Ascend From Nine Mountains | · EA | $19.99 | 324 92% | 9.7k | $194k (exactly $194,303) | Nine Ascension Studios |
 | BoneCraft | older | $14.99 | 252 80% | 7.6k | $113k (exactly $113,324) | D-Dub Software |
 | GIRLDIVERS | $14.99 | 181 80% | 5.4k | $81k (exactly $81,396) | Sweet Cakes Games | |
 | Solitaire Beach Season | older | $14.99 | 88 76% | 2.6k | $40k (exactly $39,574) | Creobit |
 | Femboy Survival | · EA | $6.99 | 133 92% | 4.0k | $28k (exactly $27,890) | 2DNiem |
 | Puppet Team | $4.99 | 112 64% | 3.4k | $17k (exactly $16,766) | Editmode | |
 | Stuff It! | $9.99 | 54 87% | 1.6k | $16k (exactly $16,184) | BONNISOFT | |
 | Netoria Tactics 2 | · EA | $14.99 | 21 95% | 630 | $9.4k (exactly $9,444) | Apollo Seven Games |
 | Heatwave | $10.00 | 21 95% | 630 | $6.3k (exactly $6,300) | Monochromesoft | |
 | Moushooter | $12.99 | 15 80% | 450 | $5.8k (exactly $5,846) | Twins Halo |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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