Do I ship it?

Games › Vehicular Combat › Vehicular Combat + Robots

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Robot Vehicular Combat game?

Vehicular Combat + Robots

Of 28 developers who shipped a Robot Vehicular Combat 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.. 55 more are announced, ×4.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $180k, ×287 the market median. Revenue is up 330% on the market; 55 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue up 330% on the market, 55 announced, ×4.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Vehicular Combat + Robots
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 28
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.1k → $597 → $5.8k → $2.7k → $299 → $7.2k → $1.1k (still earning) → $719 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Vehicular Combat + Robots: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 28
Bottom 30% $299 (exactly $299)
Median $719 (exactly $719)
Top 25% $4.3k (exactly $4,287)
Top 5% $180k (exactly $180,260)
Developers, 2 yr 28
Released games 91
Announced 55
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 up 330% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 15%, 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 medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Vehicular Combat
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
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
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Vehicular Combat; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, FPS
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, First-Person, 1990's
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 1,471 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $720, 1 in 4 over $4.2k, 1 in 20 over $180k.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 55 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

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

  1. + Looter ShooterFair11 devs · median $15k · 14 announced
  2. + BuildingPoor odds14 devs · median $303k · 40 announced
  3. + Online Co-OpPoor odds29 devs · median $62k · 75 announced
  4. + Co-opPoor odds38 devs · median $32k · 101 announced
  5. + HistoricalPoor odds16 devs · median $32k · 36 announced
  6. + CraftingPoor odds14 devs · median $20k · 43 announced
  7. + Open WorldPoor odds45 devs · median $15k · 97 announced
  8. + ManagementPoor odds21 devs · median $13k · 36 announced
  9. + SandboxPoor odds25 devs · median $10k · 70 announced
  10. + Real Time TacticsPoor odds20 devs · median $9.6k · 50 announced
  11. + ModernPoor odds18 devs · median $8.6k · 25 announced
  12. + MechsPoor odds24 devs · median $4.8k · 52 announced

All 98 pairs on the Vehicular Combat page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™ 2023 · $121M TerraTech 2018 · $15M Brigador: Up-Armored Edition 2016 · $3.4M Vox Machinae 2022 · $1.1M IRON REBELLION 2024 · $579k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™ older $59.99 66,987 91% 2.0M $121M (exactly $120,556,504) FromSoftware, Inc.
TerraTech older $24.99 20,564 92% 617k $15M (exactly $15,416,831) Payload Studios
Brigador: Up-Armored Edition older $24.99 4,580 93% 137k $3.4M (exactly $3,433,626) Stellar Jockeys, Gausswerks
Vox Machinae older $29.99 1,177 87% 35k $1.1M (exactly $1,058,947) Space Bullet Dynamics Corporation
IRON REBELLION $24.99 772 84% 23k $579k (exactly $578,768) Black Beach Studio
Disintegration older $29.99 210 60% 6.3k $189k (exactly $188,937) V1 Interactive
BREAK ARTS III $17.99 334 80% 10k $180k (exactly $180,260) MercuryStudio
Gearbits older $9.99 442 96% 13k $132k (exactly $132,467) Quackpond Games
OVRLRD · EA older $29.99 96 85% 2.9k $86k (exactly $86,371) OVRLRD
TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition older $39.99 54 70% 1.6k $65k (exactly $64,784) Tessera Studios
PATLABOR the Case Files $34.99 47 65% 1.4k $49k (exactly $49,336) Chime
Mekkablood: Quarry Assault $7.99 49 63% 1.5k $12k (exactly $11,745) KRUMB Games
Ultra Cop $1.99 195 89% 5.9k $12k (exactly $11,642) JG Roos
Typhon: Bot vs Bot · EA $19.99 12 75% 360 $7.2k (exactly $7,196) Brightshade Games
NEUROXUS $12.99 11 63% 330 $4.3k (exactly $4,287) Empyreum Studio
Drift Survivor 2 $3.99 26 92% 780 $3.1k (exactly $3,112) MEWSTURBO
Clank-Robotics $6.99 14 92% 420 $2.9k (exactly $2,936) Clank Studios
MechaCap Arena $7.99 11 90% 330 $2.6k (exactly $2,637) Paraflux Games

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