Games › PvE › PvE + Time Travel
Should I ship a Time-Travel PvE game?
PvE + Time Travel
Of 23 developers who shipped a Time-Travel 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.. 35 more are announced, ×5.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×221 the market median. Revenue is up 2770% on the market; 35 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $4.9k (exactly $4,947) |
| Top 5% | $139k (exactly $138,694) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 51 |
| Announced | 35 |
| 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 2770% on the market, supply 55% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 22%, 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 Travel
- 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; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Third-Person Shooter
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Dark, Gore
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 2,059 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 35 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.0 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
Dino Crisis 2026 · $284k 
Dino Crisis 2 2026 · $212k 
Pizza Bandit 2025 · EA · $139k 
Dark Chess 2023 · $60k 
Time Snatcher Handy 2025 · $26k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dino Crisis | $9.99 | 947 80% | 28k | $284k (exactly $283,816) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
| | Dino Crisis 2 | $9.99 | 709 87% | 21k | $212k (exactly $212,487) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
| | Pizza Bandit | · EA | $24.99 | 185 82% | 5.6k | $139k (exactly $138,694) | JOFSOFT |
| | Dark Chess | older | $12.99 | 155 76% | 4.7k | $60k (exactly $60,404) | Tall Troll Games |
| | Time Snatcher Handy | $9.99 | 88 96% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,374) | PulleyBun, ClockworkCats | |
 | Idle Superpowers | older | $6.99 | 61 77% | 1.8k | $13k (exactly $12,792) | Lutsgames |
 | Oedo Trigger VR!! | older | $16.99 | 19 84% | 570 | $9.7k (exactly $9,684) | CQC Software |
 | Roads of time | older | $14.99 | 20 80% | 600 | $9.0k (exactly $8,994) | GameOn Production |
 | NeverCOM | · EA | $4.99 | 49 95% | 1.5k | $7.3k (exactly $7,335) | Shenzhen Huajian Network Technology Co.… (Shenzhen Huajian Network Technology Co., Ltd) |
 | 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) | |
 | Into the M.A.W. | $14.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $4.9k (exactly $4,947) | Moonrise Studios | |
 | RuinsStory | $9.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $4.8k (exactly $4,795) | ilili_world | |
 | Kozyrev Horrors | $4.99 | 7 85% | 210 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | Catsprout | |
 | 挂机修仙之我能合成功法！ | $0.99 | 29 44% | 870 | $861 (exactly $861) | 99 Game Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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