Games › Action › Action + Visual Novel
Should I ship a Visual Novel Action game?
Action + Visual Novel
Of 260 developers who shipped a Visual Novel Action 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.. 322 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.0k, ×6.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $220k, ×353 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 322 games are announced against 144 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.0k (exactly $3,957) |
| Top 25% | $30k (exactly $29,680) |
| Top 5% | $222k (exactly $221,889) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 260 |
| Released games | 1,099 |
| Announced | 322 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Action
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Action, Visual Novel; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG, Dating Sim
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Anime, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 96% positive over 187,059 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 8 in 10 of the 187 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 322 games are announced against 144 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Real-Time with PauseFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + PinballFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BaseballFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TennisFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + TabletopFair
- + WuxiaPoor odds
Comparable games
Dispatch 2025 · $157M 
Library Of Ruina 2021 · $37M 
Senren＊Banka 2020 · $35M 
The Walking Dead 2012 · $24M 
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc 2016 · $22M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dispatch | $29.99 | 174,624 97% | 5.2M | $157M (exactly $157,109,213) | AdHoc Studio | |
| | Library Of Ruina | older | $29.99 | 40,605 94% | 1.2M | $37M (exactly $36,532,318) | ProjectMoon |
| | Senren＊Banka | older | $34.99 | 33,721 98% | 1.0M | $35M (exactly $35,396,934) | YUZUSOFT |
| | The Walking Dead | older | $14.99 | 53,650 97% | 1.6M | $24M (exactly $24,126,405) | Telltale Games |
| | Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc | older | $19.99 | 36,194 96% | 1.1M | $22M (exactly $21,705,542) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction G… (Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games) |
 | Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition | older | $49.99 | 10,810 89% | 324k | $16M (exactly $16,211,757) | h.a.n.d., Inc., Media.Vision Inc. |
 | The Wolf Among Us | older | $14.99 | 32,494 97% | 975k | $15M (exactly $14,612,552) | Telltale |
 | MELTY BLOOD: TYPE LUMINA | older | $49.99 | 9,130 88% | 274k | $14M (exactly $13,692,261) | FRENCH-BREAD, TYPE-MOON, Lasengle Inc.,… (FRENCH-BREAD, TYPE-MOON, Lasengle Inc., TAMSOFT CORPORATION, GameLoop Inc.) |
 | BlazBlue Centralfiction | older | $39.99 | 9,476 94% | 284k | $11M (exactly $11,368,357) | Arc System Works |
 | Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet | older | $19.99 | 15,461 79% | 464k | $9.3M (exactly $9,271,962) | Dimps Corporation |
 | Denshattack! | $19.99 | 2,910 98% | 87k | $1.7M (exactly $1,745,127) | Undercoders | |
 | Ys X: Nordics | $59.99 | 890 76% | 27k | $1.6M (exactly $1,601,733) | Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH | |
 | Nunholy | $7.99 | 5,150 88% | 155k | $1.2M (exactly $1,234,455) | Chowbie | |
 | In Falsus | $39.99 | 788 89% | 24k | $945k (exactly $945,364) | lowiro | |
 | Spooky Milk Life | · EA | $11.99 | 1,216 74% | 36k | $437k (exactly $437,395) | MangoMango, Studio Ginkgo |
 | Ys X: Proud Nordics | $69.99 | 168 75% | 5.0k | $353k (exactly $352,750) | Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH | |
 | Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile | $39.99 | 221 78% | 6.6k | $265k (exactly $265,134) | Microids Studio Lyon | |
 | The Coma 2B: Catacomb | $14.99 | 584 75% | 18k | $263k (exactly $262,625) | Dvora Studio Co., Ltd. | |
 | Bright Lord | $14.99 | 508 80% | 15k | $228k (exactly $228,448) | KissKiss Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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