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Should I ship a PvE Time Manipulation game?
PvE + Time Manipulation
Of 34 developers who shipped a PvE Time Manipulation 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.. 82 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300, ×0.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120. 82 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper, while revenue is up 115% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $120 (exactly $120) |
|---|---|
| Median | $298 (exactly $298) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) |
| Top 5% | $94k (exactly $94,406) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 34 |
| Released games | 84 |
| Announced | 82 |
| 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 115% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, 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
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- PvE, Time Manipulation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelike, Action, Action Roguelike
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Pixel Graphics, 2D, 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 86% positive over 1,204 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 82 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 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
F1® Manager 2024 2024 · $5.8M 
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II 2025 · $1.2M 
Super Time Force Ultra 2014 · $304k 
Maze Mice 2025 · $94k 
Writer's Rush 2024 · $72k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | F1® Manager 2024 | older | $34.99 | 5,554 83% | 167k | $5.8M (exactly $5,830,034) | Frontier Developments |
| | The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II | $59.99 | 669 83% | 20k | $1.2M (exactly $1,203,999) | Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH | |
| | Super Time Force Ultra | older | $14.99 | 677 90% | 20k | $304k (exactly $304,447) | Capybara Games |
| | Maze Mice | $9.99 | 315 88% | 9.5k | $94k (exactly $94,406) | TrampolineTales | |
| | Writer's Rush | older | $5.99 | 402 74% | 12k | $72k (exactly $72,239) | Frogstorm |
 | PERIMETER: Legate Edition | older | $9.99 | 143 92% | 4.3k | $43k (exactly $42,857) | K-D Lab |
 | Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever | older | $19.99 | 62 83% | 1.9k | $37k (exactly $37,181) | XR Games |
 | Mobiles Tycoon | older | $5.99 | 177 83% | 5.3k | $32k (exactly $31,807) | Insignis Games |
 | Time Snatcher Handy | $9.99 | 88 96% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,374) | PulleyBun, ClockworkCats | |
 | Temporal Titans | · EA | $9.99 | 44 95% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $13,187) | Lost Tower Games |
 | Typhon: Bot vs Bot | · EA | $19.99 | 12 75% | 360 | $7.2k (exactly $7,196) | Brightshade Games |
 | Panta Rhei - Guardian of Time | $9.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $5.4k (exactly $5,395) | Sappalot Studio, Omme Animation, Nordic… (Sappalot Studio, Omme Animation, Nordic Scoring) | |
 | miniquest | $4.99 | 24 100% | 720 | $3.6k (exactly $3,593) | Dennis Gallant | |
 | Tower of Jank | $6.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) | Matas Dragūnas | |
 | NUSNUR | $4.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | Team PARAFOX | |
 | Check & Clean | $13.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $2.1k (exactly $2,098) | Unexpected Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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