Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Underwater

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Underwater PvE game?

PvE + Underwater

Of 34 developers who shipped an Underwater 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.. 59 more are announced, ×4.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 14 developers shipped in the last year and 59 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 60% on the market, 59 announced, ×4.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Underwater
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 34
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $958 → $4.7k → $239 → $359 → $359 (still earning) → $210 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Underwater: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 34
Bottom 30% $179 (exactly $179)
Median $359 (exactly $359)
Top 25% $5.5k (exactly $5,513)
Top 5% $1.8M (exactly $1,819,193)
Developers, 2 yr 34
Released games 68
Announced 59
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 down 60% on the market, supply 30% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, 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
Underwater
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; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Co-op
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, Funny
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 83% positive over 14,929 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $360, 1 in 4 over $5.5k, 1 in 20 over $1.8M.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 59 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 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

Sunkenland 2023 · EA · $12M Abyssus 2025 · $3.8M We Need To Go Deeper 2019 · $2.2M Voyagers of Nera 2025 · EA · $1.8M IfSunSets 2024 · EA · $1.4M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Sunkenland · EA older $19.99 20,536 80% 616k $12M (exactly $12,315,439) Vector3 Studio
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
Voyagers of Nera · EA $29.99 2,022 83% 61k $1.8M (exactly $1,819,193) Treehouse Games
IfSunSets · EA $19.99 2,284 74% 69k $1.4M (exactly $1,369,715) POLYMORPH
Murky Divers $8.99 3,981 87% 119k $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) Embers
Darkwater $9.99 989 77% 30k $296k (exactly $296,403) Targon Studios
Subterror $7.99 397 90% 12k $95k (exactly $95,161) Team Monumental
Port of Jumanah $11.99 145 100% 4.4k $52k (exactly $52,156) Red Dunes Games, Agate
Debris older $9.99 97 60% 2.9k $29k (exactly $29,071) Moonray Studios
What'Sub · EA $7.99 38 68% 1.1k $9.1k (exactly $9,109) Khaos Games, Nordic Softworks, Future P… (Khaos Games, Nordic Softworks, Future Punch)
Hook Line and Sniper $7.99 23 100% 690 $5.5k (exactly $5,513) ItellaItella, Justin1L8
Fish 'n Ships $4.99 36 97% 1.1k $5.4k (exactly $5,389) Squid Snooze Studio

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