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Should I ship an Underground PvE game?
PvE + Underground
Of 60 developers who shipped an Underground 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.. 124 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×222 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 124 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $598 (exactly $598) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,598) |
| Top 5% | $139k (exactly $139,241) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 60 |
| Released games | 118 |
| Announced | 124 |
| 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 down 25% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Underground
- 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; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Dungeon Crawler
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 20,866 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 26 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 124 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 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
White Knuckle 2025 · EA · $6.8M 
Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (1999) 2026 · $698k 
Resident Evil 2 (1998) 2026 · $625k 
Resident Evil (1996) 2026 · $480k 
The Hive 2016 · $179k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | White Knuckle | · EA | $16.99 | 13,356 98% | 401k | $6.8M (exactly $6,807,553) | Dark Machine Games |
| | Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (1999) | $9.99 | 2,329 89% | 70k | $698k (exactly $698,001) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
| | Resident Evil 2 (1998) | $9.99 | 2,084 90% | 63k | $625k (exactly $624,575) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
| | Resident Evil (1996) | $9.99 | 1,602 90% | 48k | $480k (exactly $480,119) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd., GOG.com | |
| | The Hive | older | $19.99 | 299 71% | 9.0k | $179k (exactly $179,310) | Skydome Entertainment |
 | Path of the Abyss | $6.99 | 664 92% | 20k | $139k (exactly $139,241) | Suzuki Suzuzou | |
 | Kin and Quarry | $9.99 | 400 75% | 12k | $120k (exactly $119,880) | The Fox Knocks | |
 | goblinAmerica | · EA | $14.99 | 179 96% | 5.4k | $80k (exactly $80,496) | Gil Lawson |
 | Dynamite Jack | older | $9.99 | 128 89% | 3.8k | $38k (exactly $38,362) | Hassey Enterprises, Inc. |
 | Gem Miner TD | $12.99 | 72 97% | 2.2k | $28k (exactly $28,058) | iFeral Games | |
 | ダンジョンに生息だ！ | $7.99 | 112 90% | 3.4k | $27k (exactly $26,846) | ドクローネ | |
 | Cthulhu's Reach: Devil Reef | $9.99 | 68 80% | 2.0k | $20k (exactly $20,380) | The Fine Arc |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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