Games › Action-Adventure › Action-Adventure + Choose Your Own Adventure
Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure Action-Adventure?
Action-Adventure + Choose Your Own Adventure
Of 249 developers who shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure Action-Adventure 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.. 533 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $890, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×185 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 533 games are announced against 138 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $891 (exactly $891) |
| Top 25% | $5.7k (exactly $5,662) |
| Top 5% | $116k (exactly $116,204) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 249 |
| Released games | 784 |
| Announced | 533 |
| 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 down 10% on the market, supply 15% 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.
- Action-Adventure
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Action-Adventure, Choose Your Own Adventure; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Action
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 124,625 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 162 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 533 games are announced against 138 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action-Adventure with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + BikesFair
- + TransportationFair
- + MotorbikeFair
- + TypingLong shot
- + Time AttackLong shot
- + Character Action GamePoor odds
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Villain ProtagonistPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Assassin's Creed® Odyssey | older | $59.99 | 172,149 89% | 5.2M | $310M (exactly $309,816,555) | Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubiso… (Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Kiev, Ubisoft Shanghai) |
| | Crimson Desert Enhanced | $69.99 | 115,056 83% | 3.5M | $242M (exactly $241,583,083) | Pearl Abyss | |
| | 鬼谷八荒 Tale of Immortal | older | $19.99 | 190,184 56% | 5.7M | $114M (exactly $114,053,345) | 鬼谷工作室 |
| | Watch Dogs®: Legion | older | $59.99 | 11,891 56% | 357k | $21M (exactly $21,400,233) | Ubisoft Toronto |
| | As Dusk Falls | older | $29.99 | 3,707 90% | 111k | $3.3M (exactly $3,335,188) | INTERIOR/NIGHT |
| | Caravan SandWitch | older | $24.99 | 2,797 88% | 84k | $2.1M (exactly $2,096,911) | Studio Plane Toast |
| | New Tales from the Borderlands | older | $39.99 | 1,737 29% | 52k | $2.1M (exactly $2,083,879) | Gearbox Software |
| | Directive 8020 | $49.99 | 1,337 63% | 40k | $2.0M (exactly $2,005,099) | Supermassive Games | |
| | Guild Wars® Reforged | $19.99 | 3,265 87% | 98k | $2.0M (exactly $1,958,020) | ArenaNet® | |
| | The Expanse: A Telltale Series | older | $24.99 | 2,372 76% | 71k | $1.8M (exactly $1,778,288) | Deck Nine |
| | Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed | $39.99 | 1,275 93% | 38k | $1.5M (exactly $1,529,618) | Purple Lamp | |
| | Blades of Fire | $39.99 | 523 74% | 16k | $627k (exactly $627,443) | MercurySteam | |
| | Happy Island Fantasy | $14.99 | 1,186 88% | 36k | $533k (exactly $533,344) | HappyCreator | |
| | KAMITSUBAKI CITY REGENERATE | $34.99 | 494 93% | 15k | $519k (exactly $518,552) | KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO, orange | |
| | Guidus Zero | $14.99 | 609 75% | 18k | $274k (exactly $273,867) | izzle | |
| | The Caribou Trail | $12.99 | 636 90% | 19k | $248k (exactly $247,849) | Unreliable Narrators, Manavoid Entertai… (Unreliable Narrators, Manavoid Entertainment) | |
| | Reach | $29.99 | 244 66% | 7.3k | $220k (exactly $219,527) | nDreams Elevation |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.