Games › PvP › PvP + Split Screen
Should I ship a PvP Split Screen game?
PvP + Split Screen
Of 141 developers who shipped a PvP Split Screen 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.. 186 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, level with the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $320; 1 in 20 cleared $350k, ×240 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 186 games are announced against 79 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $315 (exactly $315) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) |
| Top 25% | $6.7k (exactly $6,746) |
| Top 5% | $359k (exactly $359,220) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 141 |
| Released games | 454 |
| Announced | 186 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Split Screen
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- PvP, Split Screen; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Local Multiplayer, Arcade, Racing
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful, Family Friendly
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 43,361 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $320. 8 in 10 of the 72 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 186 games are announced against 79 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvP with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + BaseballFair
- + TransportationFair
- + BasketballFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BikesFair
- + GolfFair
- + World War IFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + TennisLong shot
- + TypingLong shot
- + SpellingLong shot
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Need for Speed™ Heat | older | $69.99 | 128,933 84% | 3.9M | $271M (exactly $270,720,620) | Ghost Games |
| | F1® 25 | $49.99 | 25,395 87% | 762k | $38M (exactly $38,084,882) | Codemasters | |
| | Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds | $69.99 | 11,479 93% | 344k | $24M (exactly $24,102,456) | Sonic Team | |
| | ONE PIECE: PIRATE WARRIORS 4 | older | $39.99 | 17,281 91% | 518k | $21M (exactly $20,732,016) | Koei Tecmo |
| | Stick Fight: The Game | older | $4.99 | 99,952 93% | 3.0M | $15M (exactly $14,962,814) | Landfall West |
| | RIDE 4 | older | $39.99 | 9,921 83% | 298k | $12M (exactly $11,902,224) | Milestone S.r.l. |
| | WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship | older | $19.99 | 12,146 82% | 364k | $7.3M (exactly $7,283,956) | KT Racing |
| | Amazing Frog? | · EA older | $19.99 | 11,169 94% | 335k | $6.7M (exactly $6,698,049) | Fayju |
| | One Piece Burning Blood | older | $49.99 | 3,751 81% | 113k | $5.6M (exactly $5,625,375) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
| | Need for Speed™ Rivals | older | $19.99 | 9,265 76% | 278k | $5.6M (exactly $5,556,220) | Criterion Games |
| | Screamer | $59.99 | 1,039 80% | 31k | $1.9M (exactly $1,869,888) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | Tennis Elbow 4 | $29.99 | 1,077 96% | 32k | $969k (exactly $968,977) | Mana Games | |
| | The Karters 2: Turbo Charged | · EA | $29.99 | 1,043 91% | 31k | $938k (exactly $938,387) | Pixel Edge Games |
| | MotoGP™25 | $49.99 | 592 74% | 18k | $888k (exactly $887,822) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | Super Woden: Rally Edge | $12.99 | 1,552 96% | 47k | $605k (exactly $604,814) | ViJuDa | |
| | Wreckreation | $39.99 | 360 63% | 11k | $432k (exactly $431,892) | Three Fields Entertainment | |
| | MotoGP™26 | $59.99 | 225 64% | 6.8k | $405k (exactly $404,932) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | Victory Heat Rally | $19.99 | 599 88% | 18k | $359k (exactly $359,220) | Skydevilpalm |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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