Do I ship it?

Games › RPG › RPG + Vehicular Combat

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Vehicular Combat RPG?

RPG + Vehicular Combat

Of 25 developers who shipped a Vehicular Combat RPG 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.. 66 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $3.9k, ×6.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $430k, ×698 the market median. Revenue is up 80% on the market; 66 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 80% on the market, 66 announced, ×3.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
RPG + Vehicular Combat
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 25
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.1k → $18k → $3.9k → $15k → $128k → $6.3k (still earning) → $75 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for RPG + Vehicular Combat: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 25
Bottom 30% $120 (exactly $120)
Median $3.9k (exactly $3,897)
Top 25% $15k (exactly $14,521)
Top 5% $439k (exactly $438,542)
Developers, 2 yr 25
Released games 73
Announced 66
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
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 up 80% on the market, supply 155% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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.

RPG
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
Vehicular Combat
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 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
RPG, Vehicular Combat; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Open World, Action RPG, Shooter
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 92% positive over 17,243 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $3.9k, 1 in 4 over $14k, 1 in 20 over $430k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. All of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 66 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVStrong odds169 devs · median $54k · 144 announced
  2. + IdlerFair357 devs · median $2.2k · 471 announced
  3. + Boss RushFair20 devs · median $1.8k · 27 announced
  4. + SportsFair113 devs · median $1.5k · 124 announced
  5. + Combat RacingFair22 devs · median $629 · 28 announced
  6. + Split ScreenFair28 devs · median $450 · 31 announced
  7. + Precision PlatformerFair41 devs · median $449 · 43 announced
  8. + SamuraiPoor odds14 devs · median $261k · 14 announced
  9. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds76 devs · median $96k · 165 announced
  10. + 4XPoor odds26 devs · median $54k · 56 announced
  11. + MinigamesPoor odds19 devs · median $40k · 34 announced
  12. + Real-Time with PausePoor odds15 devs · median $28k · 19 announced

All 262 pairs on the RPG page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Mad Max 2015 · $35M Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2025 · $23M SAND LAND 2024 · $1.8M Hard Truck Apocalypse / Ex Machina 2014 · $582k METAL MAX Xeno Reborn 2022 · $533k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Mad Max older $19.99 57,651 91% 1.7M $35M (exactly $34,573,305) Avalanche Studios
Tokyo Xtreme Racer $49.99 15,284 93% 459k $23M (exactly $22,921,415) Genki Co., Ltd.
SAND LAND older $59.99 1,018 86% 31k $1.8M (exactly $1,832,095) ILCA, Inc.
Hard Truck Apocalypse / Ex Machina older $7.99 2,426 83% 73k $582k (exactly $581,512) Targem Games
METAL MAX Xeno Reborn older $39.99 444 65% 13k $533k (exactly $532,667) 24Frame,inc.
Insect Swarm older $6.99 2,491 84% 75k $522k (exactly $522,363) Parallel Portal
Convoy older $14.99 1,128 78% 34k $507k (exactly $507,262) Convoy Games
Human Host · EA $16.88 866 83% 26k $439k (exactly $438,542) Virtual Matrix Studio
Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls · EA older $29.99 487 66% 15k $438k (exactly $438,154) Reason Generator Inc.
DuneCrawl $19.99 568 74% 17k $341k (exactly $340,630) Alientrap
Tankenstein · EA $17.99 238 89% 7.1k $128k (exactly $128,449) Landship Games LTD
Driveloop: Survivors · EA $9.99 96 76% 2.9k $29k (exactly $28,771) Stunbyte
RoadOut $14.99 34 97% 1.0k $15k (exactly $15,290) Rastrolabs Game Studio
Bomb Vehicle Idle Clicker · EA $4.99 97 73% 2.9k $15k (exactly $14,521) RimmindGame
Dungeons & Drivers $9.99 26 84% 780 $7.8k (exactly $7,792) Digital Synapsis
Granser - Act 1 $9.99 21 100% 630 $6.3k (exactly $6,294) Steve Gal
War of Wheels · EA $14.99 13 100% 390 $5.8k (exactly $5,846) Dreambits Studio

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