Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Steampunk

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Steampunk PvE game?

PvE + Steampunk

Of 39 developers who shipped a Steampunk 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.. 78 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $270, ×0.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50. 78 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper, while revenue is up 10% on the market.

Deciding numbers: median 0.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 10% on the market, 78 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Steampunk
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 39
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.8k → $899 → $5.1k → $449 → $659 → $3.1k → $359 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Steampunk: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 39
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $269 (exactly $269)
Top 25% $5.8k (exactly $5,846)
Top 5% $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996)
Developers, 2 yr 39
Released games 88
Announced 78
Effort 6 / 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 up 10% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 23%, 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
Steampunk
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Roguelike, Roguelite
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 59% positive over 19,729 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $270, 1 in 4 over $5.8k, 1 in 20 over $3.7M.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 78 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvE with a different setting or mood, 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

SAND: Raiders of Sophie 2026 · EA · $9.4M Gloomwood 2022 · EA · $4.5M Abyssus 2025 · $3.8M We Need To Go Deeper 2019 · $2.2M Little Noah: Scion of Paradise 2022 · $977k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
SAND: Raiders of Sophie · EA $24.99 12,485 49% 375k $9.4M (exactly $9,360,004) Hologryph, TowerHaus
Gloomwood · EA older $19.99 7,495 95% 225k $4.5M (exactly $4,494,752) Dillon Rogers, David Szymanski, Nate Be… (Dillon Rogers, David Szymanski, Nate Berens, Thomas Porta)
Abyssus $24.99 5,014 84% 150k $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996) DoubleMoose Games
We Need To Go Deeper older $15.99 4,652 86% 140k $2.2M (exactly $2,231,564) Deli Interactive LLC
Little Noah: Scion of Paradise older $14.99 2,172 92% 65k $977k (exactly $976,748) Cygames, Inc., Grounding Inc.
Airship: Kingdoms Adrift older $29.99 902 75% 27k $812k (exactly $811,529) Revolution Industry
Ratten Reich $19.99 616 40% 18k $369k (exactly $369,415) METALLADLERSTUDIO
Erannorth Chronicles older $20.99 407 85% 12k $256k (exactly $256,288) Spyridon Thalassinos
Thick As Thieves $4.99 1,106 65% 33k $166k (exactly $165,568) OtherSide Entertainment
Airmen older $14.99 315 76% 9.5k $142k (exactly $141,656) Airborne Games
Hunter's Moon: A Sovereign Syndicate Adventure $19.99 205 83% 6.2k $123k (exactly $122,938) Crimson Herring Studios
Slyders $9.99 162 85% 4.9k $49k (exactly $48,551) Kato Games
Exark $14.99 99 73% 3.0k $45k (exactly $44,520) Robot Cat Limited
Rhyolite $9.99 21 100% 630 $6.3k (exactly $6,294) Long Lost
Wings of Aviora · EA $24.99 8 87% 240 $6.0k (exactly $5,998) Stormy XP
Knuckle Jet $14.99 13 92% 390 $5.8k (exactly $5,846) Rain Games

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