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Should I ship an Investigation Arcade game?
Arcade + Investigation
Of 28 developers who shipped an Investigation Arcade 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.. 43 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $270 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 16 developers shipped in the last year and 43 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $90 (exactly $90) |
|---|---|
| Median | $269 (exactly $269) |
| Top 25% | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) |
| Top 5% | $265k (exactly $265,134) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 28 |
| Released games | 80 |
| Announced | 43 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Arcade
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Investigation
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Arcade, Investigation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Puzzle, Exploration
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 8,474 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $90. 9 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 43 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Arcade with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + TrainsFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + MiningFair
- + FaithFair
- + Turn-BasedFair
- + EconomyFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + DeckbuildingFair
- + Card BattlerFair
- + LootFair
- + VampiresFair
Comparable games
The Precinct 2025 · $7.1M 
Supernatural 2024 · $318k 
Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile 2025 · $265k 
Crash Time 2 2009 · $175k 
Supercow 2022 · $44k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Precinct | $29.99 | 7,837 87% | 235k | $7.1M (exactly $7,050,949) | Fallen Tree Games Ltd | |
| | Supernatural | older | $8.99 | 1,180 63% | 35k | $318k (exactly $318,246) | Hitori De Productions |
| | Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile | $39.99 | 221 78% | 6.6k | $265k (exactly $265,134) | Microids Studio Lyon | |
| | Crash Time 2 | older | $4.99 | 1,170 63% | 35k | $175k (exactly $175,149) | · |
| | Supercow | older | $7.99 | 183 97% | 5.5k | $44k (exactly $43,865) | Nevosoft |
 | Jeffrey Eggstein | · EA | $4.99 | 290 94% | 8.7k | $43k (exactly $43,413) | Grabba Guild Games LLC |
 | Paranormal Detective: Escape from the 80's | older | $9.99 | 82 92% | 2.5k | $25k (exactly $24,575) | LunaBeat |
 | Blacklist Mafia | older | $9.99 | 65 83% | 2.0k | $19k (exactly $19,480) | VICTORIA Games |
 | Press Any Button | older | $1.99 | 221 92% | 6.6k | $13k (exactly $13,194) | Eugene Zubko |
 | Memori | · EA | $14.99 | 22 95% | 660 | $9.9k (exactly $9,893) | PracticalNPC |
 | Sonar Scout | $5.99 | 26 100% | 780 | $4.7k (exactly $4,672) | Dan Schumacher, Hjalte Tagmose, Neil Do… (Dan Schumacher, Hjalte Tagmose, Neil Doppelmayr, Christoph Englert, Pontus Liljekvist, Hugo Roque) | |
 | The Power of Fish | $4.99 | 25 96% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | Strangefish Studios | |
 | Collateral Dungeon | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | Techosaurus Studios | |
 | 5 Minutes Until Self-Destruction | $1.99 | 28 96% | 840 | $1.7k (exactly $1,672) | Part Time Monkey | |
 | Dark Investigation : Experiment | $4.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $898 (exactly $898) | TheLittleGames | |
 | Fake It | $2.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $807 (exactly $807) | Androbyte |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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