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Should I ship an Alien Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Choose Your Own Adventure + Aliens
Of 33 developers who shipped an Alien Choose Your Own Adventure 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.. 50 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.2k, ×8.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $2.0M, ×4221 the market median. Revenue is up 440% on the market; 50 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) |
| Top 25% | $14k (exactly $13,903) |
| Top 5% | $2.0M (exactly $2,005,099) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 33 |
| Released games | 95 |
| Announced | 50 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 440% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
- Aliens
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Choose Your Own Adventure; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choices Matter, Exploration
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 7,256 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 9 in 10 of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 50 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Choose Your Own Adventure with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RhythmStrong odds
- + FMVFair
- + FlightFair
- + SportsFair
- + Word GameFair
- + MilitaryFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + IdlerFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Local MultiplayerFair
- + 3D FighterLong shot
- + NavalPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
| | Directive 8020 | $49.99 | 1,337 63% | 40k | $2.0M (exactly $2,005,099) | Supermassive Games | |
| | Projekt: Passion - Season 1 | older | $11.99 | 3,501 92% | 105k | $1.3M (exactly $1,259,310) | Classy Lemon |
| | The Fermi Paradox | · EA older | $18.99 | 956 76% | 29k | $545k (exactly $544,633) | Anomaly Games |
| | The Symbiant | older | $19.99 | 785 95% | 24k | $471k (exactly $470,764) | HeartCoreDev |
| | Projekt: Passion - Season 2 | $11.99 | 1,005 93% | 30k | $361k (exactly $361,498) | Classy Lemon | |
| | Polda 7 | older | $17.99 | 496 92% | 15k | $268k (exactly $267,691) | Zima software |
| | Tales From The Unending Void: Season 1 | older | $14.99 | 427 88% | 13k | $192k (exactly $192,022) | Perverteer Games |
| | The Symbiant Re:Union | older | $14.99 | 270 91% | 8.1k | $121k (exactly $121,419) | HeartCoreDev |
| | Earth Must Die | $15.99 | 238 85% | 7.1k | $114k (exactly $114,169) | Size Five Games | |
| | Dead in Antares | $19.99 | 189 77% | 5.7k | $113k (exactly $113,343) | Ishtar Games | |
| | Stellar Dream - Part 1 | $14.99 | 129 87% | 3.9k | $58k (exactly $58,011) | Winterlook Games | |
| | ASTROBOTANICA | · EA | $19.99 | 76 59% | 2.3k | $46k (exactly $45,577) | Space Goblin Studio |
| | OMEGA 6 The Triangle Stars | $14.99 | 37 91% | 1.1k | $17k (exactly $16,639) | Takaya Imamura, Happymeal, Pleocene | |
| | Who Are You!? | $7.99 | 58 68% | 1.7k | $14k (exactly $13,903) | Haunting Humans Studio | |
| | Love at The Milky Way Diner | · EA | $13.99 | 25 100% | 750 | $10k (exactly $10,492) | Lucky Kim, Emanuelle Heikens |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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