Do I ship it?

Games › PvE › PvE + Walking Simulator

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvE Walking Simulator?

PvE + Walking Simulator

Of 70 developers who shipped a PvE Walking Simulator 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.. 100 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $650, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $36k, ×58 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 100 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.0 times the market baseline, revenue down 10% on the market, 100 announced, ×2.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvE + Walking Simulator
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 70
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.9k → $896 → $3.0k → $683 → $898 → $1.2k → $150 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvE + Walking Simulator: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 70
Bottom 30% $239 (exactly $239)
Median $653 (exactly $653)
Top 25% $2.6k (exactly $2,567)
Top 5% $36k (exactly $36,328)
Developers, 2 yr 70
Released games 209
Announced 100
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Low
Typical price $2.99

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 10% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 12%, 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
Walking Simulator
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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, Walking Simulator; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Action
Price point
$2.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $2.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 2,573 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $650, 1 in 4 over $2.5k, 1 in 20 over $36k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 46 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 100 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvE with a different second tag, 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

Animalia Survival 2021 · EA · $1.7M Lunch Lady 2021 · $1.5M Prehistoric Hunt 2020 · EA · $366k Hospital 666 2024 · $288k 7th Sector 2019 · $212k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Animalia Survival · EA older $19.99 2,823 64% 85k $1.7M (exactly $1,692,953) High Brazil Studio
Lunch Lady older $4.99 9,722 86% 292k $1.5M (exactly $1,455,383) Manic Mice
Prehistoric Hunt · EA older $17.99 678 84% 20k $366k (exactly $365,917) Antiproto Studios
Hospital 666 older $7.99 1,203 71% 36k $288k (exactly $288,359) Lokin
7th Sector older $10.99 643 72% 19k $212k (exactly $211,997) Носков Сергей
Anomaly Exit older $5.99 1,118 89% 34k $201k (exactly $200,905) ExamlGuy
It Takes a War $5.99 885 91% 27k $159k (exactly $159,034) Thomas Mackinnon
VERGE:Lost chapter older $0.99 2,874 52% 86k $85k (exactly $85,358) GDNomaD
Isles of Yore · EA older $19.99 127 69% 3.8k $76k (exactly $76,162) MaverickMatryoshka
DREAM LOGIC older $4.99 385 89% 12k $58k (exactly $57,634) Teleopsia Games
Make Good Choices $2.99 556 88% 17k $50k (exactly $49,873) TN Games
Shards Of Solitude $9.99 163 85% 4.9k $49k (exactly $48,851) Chilling Designs
Together After Dark $2.99 405 53% 12k $36k (exactly $36,328) RedForge
Ember's Verge $14.99 51 88% 1.5k $23k (exactly $22,935) Feralless Games
Colony 37 · EA $2.99 224 95% 6.7k $20k (exactly $20,093) Valen
Puppet Team $4.99 112 64% 3.4k $17k (exactly $16,766) Editmode
Alice's Lullaby $14.99 37 83% 1.1k $17k (exactly $16,639) Ape Law
Jester: A Foolish Ritual $4.99 103 88% 3.1k $15k (exactly $15,419) Fire Foot Studios
BoneField: Bodycam Horror · EA $9.99 37 62% 1.1k $11k (exactly $11,089) RedRockGS

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