Games › Vehicular Combat › Vehicular Combat + Sci-fi
Should I ship a Sci-fi Vehicular Combat game?
Vehicular Combat + Sci-fi
Of 111 developers who shipped a Sci-fi 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.. 271 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 $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $290k, ×471 the market median. Revenue is up 200% on the market; 271 games are announced against 73 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $599 (exactly $599) |
| Top 25% | $4.1k (exactly $4,133) |
| Top 5% | $296k (exactly $295,652) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 111 |
| Released games | 314 |
| Announced | 271 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 200% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Sci-fi
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Vehicular Combat; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, PvE
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 16,514 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 41 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 271 games are announced against 73 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Vehicular Combat with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Looter ShooterFair
- + BuildingPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
- + Open WorldPoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Real Time TacticsPoor odds
- + ModernPoor odds
- + MechsPoor odds
Comparable games
| 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. |
| | STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II | older | $39.99 | 87,494 88% | 2.6M | $105M (exactly $104,966,552) | DICE |
| | RAGE 2 | older | $39.99 | 14,019 64% | 421k | $17M (exactly $16,818,594) | id Software, Avalanche Studios |
| | Avorion | older | $24.99 | 13,001 90% | 390k | $9.7M (exactly $9,746,850) | Boxelware |
| | John Carpenter's Toxic Commando | $39.99 | 6,274 72% | 188k | $7.5M (exactly $7,526,918) | Saber Interactive | |
| | Brigador: Up-Armored Edition | older | $24.99 | 4,580 93% | 137k | $3.4M (exactly $3,433,626) | Stellar Jockeys, Gausswerks |
| | GRIP: Combat Racing | older | $29.99 | 3,669 86% | 110k | $3.3M (exactly $3,300,999) | Caged Element |
| | STAR WARS™ Battlefront | older | $19.99 | 5,190 79% | 156k | $3.1M (exactly $3,112,443) | DICE |
| | Silica | · EA older | $19.99 | 4,468 77% | 134k | $2.7M (exactly $2,679,460) | Martin 'Dram' Melichárek |
| | Beyond Citadel | $14.99 | 4,417 96% | 133k | $2.0M (exactly $1,986,325) | doekuramori | |
| | TerraTech Legion | $9.99 | 2,109 81% | 63k | $632k (exactly $632,067) | Payload Studios | |
| | IRON REBELLION | $24.99 | 772 84% | 23k | $579k (exactly $578,768) | Black Beach Studio | |
| | Brigador Killers | · EA | $24.99 | 572 69% | 17k | $429k (exactly $428,828) | Stellar Jockeys, Gausswerks |
| | Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks | $19.99 | 493 85% | 15k | $296k (exactly $295,652) | Caged Element | |
| | Space Reign | $19.99 | 444 72% | 13k | $266k (exactly $266,267) | Propulsive Games | |
| | Mech Havoc | · EA | $9.99 | 813 96% | 24k | $244k (exactly $243,656) | Mid Development |
| | G-Rebels | · EA | $29.99 | 254 79% | 7.6k | $229k (exactly $228,524) | Reakktor Studios |
| | Drone Sector | · EA | $16.99 | 366 89% | 11k | $187k (exactly $186,550) | Icosphere |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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