Do I ship it?

Games › PvP › PvP + Shoot 'Em Up

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a PvP Shoot 'Em Up?

PvP + Shoot 'Em Up

Of 65 developers who shipped a PvP Shoot 'Em Up 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.. 131 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 8 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $270 in the last 2 years and $270 over 4, against a market of $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build. 35 developers shipped in the last year and 131 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 10% on the market, 131 announced, ×3.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
PvP + Shoot 'Em Up
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 65
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $150 → $899 → $299 → $599 → $120 → $899 → $269 (still earning) → $0 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for PvP + Shoot 'Em Up: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 65
Bottom 30% $30 (exactly $30)
Median $269 (exactly $269)
Top 25% $2.7k (exactly $2,698)
Top 5% $12k (exactly $11,988)
Developers, 2 yr 65
Released games 283
Announced 131
Effort 8 / 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 10% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 23%, 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
Shoot 'Em Up
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
8 / 10 · online systems, open world
Systems
PvP, Shoot 'Em Up; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Arcade
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 53% positive over 1,697 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $270, 1 in 4 over $2.6k, 1 in 20 over $11k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. Nearly all of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 131 games are announced against 35 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

PvP with a different second tag, 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

Raw Data 2017 · $2.4M Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef 2022 · $1.6M Beat Hazard 2 2019 · $795k Beyond Sandbox 2026 · EA · $733k Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration 2022 · $548k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Raw Data older $39.99 2,036 81% 61k $2.4M (exactly $2,442,589) Survios
Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef older $19.99 2,586 87% 78k $1.6M (exactly $1,550,824) Rogueside
Beat Hazard 2 older $18.99 1,396 89% 42k $795k (exactly $795,301) Cold Beam Games
Beyond Sandbox · EA $19.99 1,223 39% 37k $733k (exactly $733,433) Atlas XR
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration older $39.99 457 92% 14k $548k (exactly $548,263) Digital Eclipse
Beat Hazard 3 older $19.99 586 84% 18k $351k (exactly $351,424) Cold Beam Games
Maiden and Spell older $12.99 822 97% 25k $320k (exactly $320,333) mino_dev
Shark Attack Deathmatch 2 older $4.99 1,415 74% 42k $212k (exactly $211,826) Lighthouse Games Studio
Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster $29.99 230 93% 6.9k $207k (exactly $206,931) LucasArts, Nightdive Studios
Sine Mora EX older $9.99 463 66% 14k $139k (exactly $138,761) Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufactur… (Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufacture, Gyroscope Games)
SharedScreen Wagons 2 $9.99 52 98% 1.6k $16k (exactly $15,584) Anti-Ded GameDev
Touhou Volleyball Danmaku $9.99 40 100% 1.2k $12k (exactly $11,988) Compact TH
Chaos on Wheels $9.99 34 67% 1.0k $10k (exactly $10,190) Acodeon Development
Assault On Proxima $9.99 32 81% 960 $9.6k (exactly $9,590) Delta Video Games
Skyfear · EA $14.99 20 95% 600 $9.0k (exactly $8,994) Protoria Studios
MAGE: Mega Awesome Gregarious Encounters $9.99 29 89% 870 $8.7k (exactly $8,691) FunRug Studio
KartMania Silver $9.99 20 85% 600 $6.0k (exactly $5,994) Silver Games
Beyond Solar · EA $9.99 17 88% 510 $5.1k (exactly $5,095) COREGAME Studios

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