Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Artificial Intelligence
Should I ship an AI Time Manipulation game?
Time Manipulation + Artificial Intelligence
Only 10 developers shipped an AI Time Manipulation game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, NODE, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 22 more are announced, ×4.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50; 1 in 20 cleared $100k, ×230 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 22 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $30 (exactly $30) |
|---|---|
| Median | $899 (exactly $899) |
| Top 25% | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) |
| Top 5% | $109k (exactly $109,456) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 10 |
| Released games | 39 |
| Announced | 22 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Artificial Intelligence
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Time Manipulation
- Price point
- $6.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 8 games average 87% positive over 210 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 22 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Time Manipulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DemonsFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + ModernFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
- + DetectivePoor odds
- + NoirPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SUPERHOT VR | older | $24.99 | 7,978 82% | 239k | $6.0M (exactly $5,981,107) | SUPERHOT Team |
| | 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel | older | $11.99 | 8,097 96% | 243k | $2.9M (exactly $2,912,491) | Conor Petersen, Thunkspace, LLC |
| | The Entropy Centre | older | $19.99 | 3,359 89% | 101k | $2.0M (exactly $2,014,392) | Stubby Games |
| | ICBM | older | $19.99 | 1,655 91% | 50k | $993k (exactly $992,503) | SoftWarWare, K-Project |
| | NODE | $24.99 | 146 91% | 4.4k | $109k (exactly $109,456) | Lapsus Games | |
| | District Steel | · EA older | $24.99 | 76 93% | 2.3k | $57k (exactly $56,977) | Barricade Studio |
| | HORROR TALES: The Beggar | older | $11.99 | 127 84% | 3.8k | $46k (exactly $45,682) | CarlosGameDev |
| | Mobiles Tycoon | older | $5.99 | 177 83% | 5.3k | $32k (exactly $31,807) | Insignis Games |
| | Red Ronin | older | $7.99 | 119 87% | 3.6k | $29k (exactly $28,524) | Wired Dreams Studio |
| | The God Unit | older | $9.99 | 78 96% | 2.3k | $23k (exactly $23,377) | Cat Floor Studio |
| | Typhon: Bot vs Bot | · EA | $19.99 | 12 75% | 360 | $7.2k (exactly $7,196) | Brightshade Games |
| | Arcade Empire Tycoon | $4.99 | 25 68% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | Mind Inside Games | |
| | Rescue Team: Ancient Guardian | $6.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $2.3k (exactly $2,307) | Game Mixer | |
| | Rescue Team: Attack of the Atom | $6.99 | 11 90% | 330 | $2.3k (exactly $2,307) | Game Mixer | |
| | Gallery Theft | · EA | $9.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | Hard Shark Games |
| | Warp Dash | $3.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $120 (exactly $120) | Adweb | |
| | Loreen's Purgatory | $0.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $30 (exactly $30) | Omega Gaming | |
| | Soft(A)ware | $18.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | B0TLANNER Games | |
| | Code My Robot Vacuum | · EA | $5.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Umit Canbolat |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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