Do I ship it?

Games › PvP › PvP + Robots

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Robot PvP game?

PvP + Robots

Of 63 developers who shipped a Robot PvP 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.. 145 more are announced, ×4.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $420 over 4, against a market of $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build. 33 developers shipped in the last year and 145 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.3 times the market baseline, revenue down 45% on the market, 145 announced, ×4.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvP + Robots
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 63
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $180 → $390 → $359 → $899 → $359 → $899 → $179 (still earning) → $2.2k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvP + Robots: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 63
Bottom 30% $150 (exactly $150)
Median $449 (exactly $449)
Top 25% $8.2k (exactly $8,150)
Top 5% $338k (exactly $338,287)
Developers, 2 yr 63
Released games 258
Announced 145
Effort 8 / 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 45% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 33%, 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.

PvP
effort 8 / 10 · low · authoritative servers, latency compensation, cheating
Robots
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
PvP; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op, Combat
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 83% positive over 21,257 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $150, median $450, 1 in 4 over $8.1k, 1 in 20 over $330k.

3 in 10 developers made under $150. 8 in 10 of the 41 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 145 games are announced against 33 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.4 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvP with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + BaseballFair6 devs · median $7.6k · 9 announced
  2. + TransportationFair10 devs · median $5.7k · 11 announced
  3. + BasketballFair25 devs · median $2.6k · 28 announced
  4. + Football (American)Fair17 devs · median $1.8k · 12 announced
  5. + BikesFair10 devs · median $1.5k · 7 announced
  6. + GolfFair29 devs · median $1.4k · 34 announced
  7. + World War IFair12 devs · median $1.3k · 14 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair36 devs · median $1.2k · 48 announced
  9. + BilliardsFair18 devs · median $1.1k · 12 announced
  10. + TennisLong shot17 devs · median $899 · 15 announced
  11. + TypingLong shot28 devs · median $719 · 31 announced
  12. + SpellingLong shot14 devs · median $719 · 17 announced

All 247 pairs on the PvP page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

TerraTech 2018 · $15M Planetary Annihilation: TITANS 2015 · $10M DAEMON X MACHINA 2020 · $9.3M Mechabellum 2024 · $8.0M Exoprimal 2023 · $4.6M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
TerraTech older $24.99 20,564 92% 617k $15M (exactly $15,416,831) Payload Studios
Planetary Annihilation: TITANS older $29.99 11,401 84% 342k $10M (exactly $10,257,480) Planetary Annihilation Inc
DAEMON X MACHINA older $49.99 6,172 85% 185k $9.3M (exactly $9,256,148) Marvelous Inc.
Mechabellum $14.99 17,856 84% 536k $8.0M (exactly $8,029,843) Game River
Exoprimal older $59.99 2,581 76% 77k $4.6M (exactly $4,645,026) CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Raw Data older $39.99 2,036 81% 61k $2.4M (exactly $2,442,589) Survios
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation older $29.99 2,704 76% 81k $2.4M (exactly $2,432,789) Stardock Entertainment, Oxide Games
First Class Trouble older $14.99 3,103 79% 93k $1.4M (exactly $1,395,419) Invisible Walls
ZeroSpace · EA $39.99 1,161 78% 35k $1.4M (exactly $1,392,852) Starlance Studios, Ironward
MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED older $49.99 688 78% 21k $1.0M (exactly $1,031,794) LEVEL5 Inc.
IRON REBELLION $24.99 772 84% 23k $579k (exactly $578,768) Black Beach Studio
Iron Saga VS $29.99 376 79% 11k $338k (exactly $338,287) Gameduchy
Botworld Odyssey $25.00 279 76% 8.4k $209k (exactly $209,250) Featherweight Games
BREAK ARTS III $17.99 334 80% 10k $180k (exactly $180,260) MercuryStudio
TRANSFORMERS: Galactic Trials $39.99 93 78% 2.8k $112k (exactly $111,572) 3DClouds
Chip ‘n Clawz vs. The Brainioids $29.99 90 83% 2.7k $81k (exactly $80,973) Snapshot Games Inc.
Escape From Mandrillia: Local Asymmetric VR+PC $12.99 181 95% 5.4k $71k (exactly $70,536) German Bandera
ACE Strategy: Mecha Nova $14.99 115 78% 3.5k $52k (exactly $51,716) EMINA STUDIO

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