What is the Meaning of PvE in Gaming?

PvE in gaming means scenarios in which the player overcomes challenges set by the computer. While most players are intimately familiar with the acronyms of the gaming industry, e.g. NPC, DPS, MOBA, or MMO, the amount of jargon is potentially daunting for someone new to the community. PvE is furthermore used alongside other similar acronyms, primarily PvP, and rarely PvM or PvC. Learn what PvE stands for, understand how PvP is different from PvE, and see examples of what kinds of games are considered PvE.

Developers interested in creating PvE games want to know whether developing PvE games is worth the effort. PvE experiences are varied, so there are many pros and cons to creating PvE titles. Read on to understand the difficulties in creating PvE games and their earning potential.

What does PvE mean in gaming?

PvE (Player versus Environment) refers to game modes in which the player faces challenges set by the computer, not a human. Challenges range from AI controlled enemies to traps to puzzles to environmental hazards. In Getting Over It, the environment is designed to torture determined players as much as possible.

PvM (Player vs. Monster) and PvC (Player vs. Computer) are less commonly used terms. Both have the same meaning as PvE, but are used in different communities, like how PvM is used in Runescape.

PvE game modes exist in virtually all games. The most common type, story-driven games, are typically PvE because the developer carefully controls how the player interacts with the game. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is an example of a story-driven game, in which players see the arc of a core cast of characters that has developed over three games come to its end. Naughty Dog, Uncharted’s developer, makes the game feel like a movie, with an opening credit sequence, story cutscenes, and sharp visuals.

The next most common type is PvE games without a story. These games are more traditionally “gamey”, like Space Invaders or Pac-Man. Minecraft survival mode is a PvE game without a story, because it has no coherent narrative or goal other than for the player to mine and build as they see fit. Noita is another more recent example of a game that has no overt story, just some atmospheric story telling leaving the player to fill in the gaps.

Co-op games are the rarest type of PvE game. Co-op games, like singleplayer games, are varied: some focus on telling a story, others focus on the gameplay mechanics. It Takes Two, for example, is very story rich, with cutscenes and complex protagonists who change over the course of the story. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, on the other hand, is very much just focused on the gameplay. Players work together in this game to operate posts on a spaceship journeying through strange environments. The where and why are not very important.

What’s the difference between PvP and PvE?

The difference between PvP and PvE is that in PvP human players challenge each other, not the computer. Players in PvP games typically compete to defeat each other in combat or achieve objectives. Overwatch 2, Street Fighter 6, and League of Legends are examples of PvP games, from the FPS, fighting game, and MOBA genres respectively. PvE and PvP game modes often appear in the same game. PvE is most often used in multiplayer games, in fact, to distinguish encounters against computer-controlled enemies from PvP. MMOs, for example, have PvP in the form of arena battles or servers where player killing is enabled, and PvE in the form of raids where players work together to take down bosses.

Combining PvE co-op with PvP is rare. Dark Souls’ humanity system is an uncommon example that combines all types of multiplayer into one feature.

Dark Souls doesn’t only allow but actively encourages mixing PvP and PvE given the way its multiplayer is implemented. Spending a humanity point in Dark Souls restores you to human form, and becoming human allows you to interact with the game’s multiplayer mechanics. Players are able to summon other human players to defeat bosses, but risk attracting the attention of invaders, human players who join the world to kill the host. Players are incentivized to engage in both activities to keep playing online, since successfully helping or killing a player online earns more humanity, encouraging a chaotic mixture of PvP and PvE co-op.

What are examples of PvE games?

Examples of PvE games come from all genres and platforms: commonly searched examples include the Diablo series, the Uncharted series, Pokemon, and World of Warcraft. PvE games go back to the 1970s and earlier, as PvE is as old as the games industry itself. Pong Doubles, the co-op version of the 1972 game Pong, allowed two players to face off against computer players in tennis matches. PvE titles like The Legend of Zelda blended puzzle-solving with fast-paced action, memorable bosses and challenging dungeons. Increasingly complex games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto V brought PvE experiences like elaborate heists to huge audiences.

PvE games are divisible into singleplayer and multiplayer experiences, and from there into many genres. Platformers, RTS games, open-world RPGs, and action-adventure games are examples of PvE games that show the breadth of experiences available to solo players.

Platformers task players with mastering movement to reach the end of a level. Players run and jump through environments, encountering falls, enemies, and environmental hazards. These games are light on story and don’t distract players from mastering their mechanics. Examples include 2D side-scrolling experiences like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog, 3D variations like Super Mario Odyssey and the Spyro franchise, or even first person platformers such as Mirror’s Edge.

RTS games (real-time strategy games) make players responsible for selecting, arranging, and commanding the units in an army to defeat an enemy force. Core to the experience is managing resources alongside controlling the playing field with different types of units. RTS franchises have vastly different stories and environments. Age of Empires and Total War put players in the historical battlefields of Ancient Rome, Japan, or early modern Europe, while Warcraft, Starcraft, and Total War: Warhammer III take players to sci-fi/fantasy settings.

Open-world RPGs give players the freedom to explore a fictional realm. The environmental challenge comes in the form of combat, exploration, and decision-making. Skyrim is an example of an open-world game which gives the player almost total freedom, since the player inhabits the Dragonborn, a character without a fixed background. The Witcher 3, in contrast, gives the player similar freedom to explore and complete quests but puts them in the shoes of Geralt, an established character with a fixed background as a monster hunter. Examples of the genre also include the Fallout series, Elden Ring, and Cyberpunk 2077.

Action-adventure games are story-driven experiences with fast-paced action, much as one would see in an action movie. There is no one type of PvE here: stealth, shooter, or melee combat are all options. The Last of Us is an action-adventure game in which the stealth and shooter gameplay mechanics tell the story of the growing relationship between the two main characters, Joel and Ellie. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, God of War, and the Assassin’s Creed franchise are other examples of this genre.

Multiplayer games that include PvE take two main approaches. The first is to design the experience around co-op play, and the other is to put PvE and PvP together.

Co-op PvE games are just as varied as singleplayer experiences, as the following examples show. Overcooked tests friendships, forcing players to cooperate in order to serve food to hungry customers on a timer. Castle Crashers is a more easy-going side-scrolling beat ‘em up game with another simple, unintrusive story: rescue the princess. It Takes Two, on the other hand, is a story-driven experience where the two main characters, a bickering husband and wife, must work together to solve puzzles and defeat enemies after getting turned into dolls.

MMOs have story-based content which can be played solo in addition to raids, quests, and battles. Destiny 2, for example, has a main story through which players can progress independently, but additionally offers raids in which they can tackle story-based objectives and bosses together. Destiny also offers the Crucible, where players enter matchmaking to fight other players in deathmatches or to control objectives. Runescape, Elite Dangerous, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and World of Warcraft—shown below—are other examples of MMOs which offer a range of singleplayer, PvE, and PvP content.

The sheer quantity of PvE games makes it difficult to see them all at a glance. The table below gives a selection of the PvE games mentioned.

PvE is exemplified by more genres than it is possible to mention here. Solitaire is an example of a PvE game given the fact a player is up against a specific ruleset. Cookie Clicker and other idle games present no challenge but still leave “mastery” up to the player. Even dating simulators pit players against a series of questions and time management problems; there are no “enemies” in the KFC dating sim, unless the player takes “Love is a Battlefield” seriously.

Are PvE games worth developing?

PvE games are worth developing for the flexibility they offer to developers. The studio after all has the option to choose from any genre mentioned in the previous section. The long development time and consistent support may deter smaller developers, however.

Narrative-heavy games tend to take considerable time and cash to create because of the content’s hand-crafted nature. While these experiences have a broad appeal, consider the lengthy development time for the AAA, hand-crafted, story-driven games in the table below.

Multiplayer PvE games call for even more extensive investment on the part of the developer. The MMORPG World of Warcraft is a suitable case study, as a game that has seen over 20 years of support and expansions. Even without changes to the game, players change the way they play the game over time naturally. The players cause frequent enough disturbances in DPS class balance, for example, that the WoW team feels that they need to release constant adjustments to shake up the most powerful classes. Likewise, the League of Legends team patched the game every two weeks at launch to keep things fresh and adjust balance.  Both games have slowed down over time, WoW Expansions releasing every two years, major updates every six months, and minor updates every two months.

Developers constantly introduce new content to live service games, which then creates new gameplay problems for the development team to solve. To continue the example of WoW, the MMO’s game director Ion Hazzikostas discussed at a conference how the level cap increased with each early expansion, and the number of talent points to spend increased in turn. The developers needed to rethink progression because the talent tree became increasingly complex and unapproachable for new players.

PvE content does not have to take 6, 7, or an indefinite number of years to develop, even for indie startups. Roguelikes are a popular genre because they are easier to get in front of players quickly. Content in roguelikes is procedurally generated, meaning encounters are randomly created each playthrough and therefore designed for replayability. Developers are able to release a version of the game in early access and keep players interested because replaying the same content is encouraged. Both Slay the Spire and Hades are examples of successful roguelike games by smaller studios that utilized early access to great effect, having profitable releases after two years in early access.

Greg Kasavin discusses Hades’ release strategy in 2020 in his stream with GDC Plays.

The pros of creating PvE games primarily consist in their creative potential. Players come to games for different reasons, whether to relax, experience a story, overcome difficult challenges, or socialize with other players. A PvE experience has the ability to target any one or multiple of these audiences. The pros of creating a PvE game are below.

• Developers create as much or as little content as they need.
• PvE-focused games support deeper narrative elements, which help drive player curiosity and emotional attachment.
• Enemies/bosses/traps are overcome through practice and determination, encouraging players.
• The design team has full control over the difficulty curve throughout the game.
• Procedural generation and early access shift the developers’ focus to the most important aspects of the game.

Consistent work is required to make PvE experiences work. Disadvantages of working on PvE games are listed here.

• It takes immense work and funding to keep PvE games engaging.
• Creating content for live service games with PvE modes is an ongoing effort.
• Polishing the game is unforgiving—even small bugs and mistakes block players from enjoying the rest of the experience.

What’s the revenue potential for PvE games?

The revenue potential for PvE games ranges from less than $500 to over $1 billion. More than 50% of games released on Steam made less than $1000. The average is low, but the earnings potential is high. Monetization schemes range from free-to-play with microtransactions to subscription-based services to full-price titles.

Free-to-play games have an estimated market-value of $63.98 billion. Exposure to a large playerbase ensures a minority percentage of the player population support the game by purchasing power-ups and cosmetics. Microtransactions also encourage player retention. A Fortnite Mobile player who buys $0.99 Mountain Dew™ Gamer Fuel Timberlands cannot bring their purchase to a new game, after all, and need to wear the item to make the purchase worth it. Estimates of the percentage of players who invest in free-to-play games vary, but the study shown below found that 26% of players spent money in a free-to-play game in a sample of 5,000 online gamers.

AAA singleplayer releases still pull their weight financially in this day and age. Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 are examples of singleplayer experiences succeeding in the modern market. The former maintains community engagement and sales with consistent release of additional content. FromSoftware saves assets by releasing DLC to the original game and spinoffs like Nightreign.

The sales numbers for some of the most popular AAA games reach 8 or 9 figures. Baldur’s Gate 3 sold more than 15 million copies since its release. Around 100,000 players are active each day according to Steam data. Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the best selling games of all time, having sold more than 215 million units. Elden Ring sold more than 30 million copies since its release in 2022. Nightreign pushed 3.5 million copies in its first month alone. The top-earning Steam titles in 2024 below show that PvE games of all genres, themes, and demographic expectations are able to find financial success.

Indie games aren’t far behind their AAA counterparts. Minecraft began its life as an indie game. The open-world sandbox game has remained in the popular consciousness, becoming the best-selling game of all time from humble origins. 60 million people play Minecraft every month. Palworld, the dark take on Pokemon’s gameplay loop, sold more than 25 million units in less than a year and has more than 660,000 active monthly players. Helldivers 2, a co-op PvE game, sold over 12 million copies in its first 12 weeks.

Some games circumvent traditional funding sources and bet their bottom line on crowdfunding. Star Citizen shows the huge successes and failures possible. The promise of a type of experience, space combat and trading simulation in this case, encouraged players to contribute without seeing a demo in advance. The promise itself sustained hype. Star Citizen has earned $800 million over the course of its development cycle from the hope in this promise. Some players who invested in this game feel anxious about whether the developer wants to ship. The game is slated for a 2026 release, but opened for contributions back in 2012.

Didn’t see your favorite PvE game mentioned? Are there other categories of PvE games you want to see covered in more detail? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.