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Should I ship an Alien Dating Sim?
Dating Sim + Aliens
Of 20 developers who shipped an Alien Dating Sim 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.. 15 more are announced.
Verdict: strong odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.7k, ×14 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 7 in 10 cleared $1.6k. Revenue is up 215% on the market; 15 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year, ×1.3 per shipper.
| Bottom 30% | $1.7k (exactly $1,679) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) |
| Top 25% | $56k (exactly $55,763) |
| Top 5% | $361k (exactly $361,498) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 20 |
| Released games | 49 |
| Announced | 15 |
| 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 215% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dating Sim
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- 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
- Dating Sim; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choices Matter, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Emotional
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 2,653 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.7k. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 15 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Dating Sim with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + WarStrong odds
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Souls-likeStrong odds
- + PlatformerStrong odds
- + HistoricalFair
- + FPSFair
- + Post-apocalypticFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Action-AdventureFair
- + TacticalFair
- + NoirFair
Comparable games
Projekt: Passion - Season 1 2023 · $1.3M 
Lightracer Spark 2023 · $378k 
Projekt: Passion - Season 2 2025 · $361k 
Last Hope 2024 · $156k 
Lifeform Zero 2024 · $114k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Projekt: Passion - Season 1 | older | $11.99 | 3,501 92% | 105k | $1.3M (exactly $1,259,310) | Classy Lemon |
| | Lightracer Spark | older | $12.99 | 970 83% | 29k | $378k (exactly $378,009) | Smartmelon Games |
| | Projekt: Passion - Season 2 | $11.99 | 1,005 93% | 30k | $361k (exactly $361,498) | Classy Lemon | |
| | Last Hope | older | $19.99 | 260 93% | 7.8k | $156k (exactly $155,922) | Poolside games |
| | Lifeform Zero | older | $7.99 | 476 82% | 14k | $114k (exactly $114,097) | Sins of Succubus |
 | Alpha Hole Prison - A Yaoi, Gay, Bara Visual Novel | older | $29.99 | 125 91% | 3.8k | $112k (exactly $112,462) | Y Press Games |
 | Shinehill | $10.99 | 265 95% | 8.0k | $87k (exactly $87,370) | Peach Bite | |
 | Is the Vat Utopia or Dystopia? | $2.99 | 791 97% | 24k | $71k (exactly $70,953) | Night Cruising 夜间巡航 | |
 | Just Deserts | older | $9.99 | 234 79% | 7.0k | $70k (exactly $70,130) | Vifth Floor |
 | Stellar Dream - Part 1 | $14.99 | 129 87% | 3.9k | $58k (exactly $58,011) | Winterlook Games | |
 | Lust Effect [18+] | $14.99 | 124 66% | 3.7k | $56k (exactly $55,763) | Dirty Adventures 🖤 | |
 | Solo Breeding | $9.99 | 132 53% | 4.0k | $40k (exactly $39,560) | Whiteleaf Studio | |
 | 翎之歌 | $6.99 | 83 89% | 2.5k | $17k (exactly $17,405) | YuKi制作组, 崩溃猛犸 | |
 | Love at The Milky Way Diner | · EA | $13.99 | 25 100% | 750 | $10k (exactly $10,492) | Lucky Kim, Emanuelle Heikens |
 | No Alien Dating Allowed! | $4.99 | 54 64% | 1.6k | $8.1k (exactly $8,084) | Peach Fox Game | |
 | Long Live the Catgirls！ | $4.99 | 45 71% | 1.4k | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) | Cat Paw Game |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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