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Should I ship a Building Interactive Fiction?
Building + Interactive Fiction
Only 17 developers shipped a Building Interactive Fiction 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, Tavern Keeper 🍻, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 20 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 20 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $449 (exactly $449) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) |
| Top 5% | $4.1M (exactly $4,105,331) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 45 |
| Announced | 20 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 up 10% on the market, supply 140% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Building
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Building, Interactive Fiction; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Visual Novel, Base Building
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 4,782 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. All of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 20 games are announced against 12 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Building with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + CatsFair
- + TabletopFair
- + Grid-Based MovementFair
- + Vehicular CombatPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + Real-TimePoor odds
- + CrimePoor odds
- + SailingPoor odds
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Tavern Keeper 🍻 2025 · EA · $4.1M 
Yog-Sothoth’s Yard 2023 · $3.4M 
Wild West Legacy 2024 · $1.4M 
Next Space Rebels 2021 · $196k 
Horny Warp: Hentai Fantasy 2023 · $137k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Tavern Keeper 🍻 | · EA | $29.99 | 4,563 94% | 137k | $4.1M (exactly $4,105,331) | Greenheart Games 💚 |
| | Yog-Sothoth’s Yard | older | $10.99 | 10,207 93% | 306k | $3.4M (exactly $3,365,248) | Bone Nail |
| | Wild West Legacy | older | $26.99 | 1,706 39% | 51k | $1.4M (exactly $1,381,348) | Moon Punch Studio |
| | Next Space Rebels | older | $19.99 | 327 84% | 9.8k | $196k (exactly $196,102) | Studio Floris Kaayk |
| | Horny Warp: Hentai Fantasy | older | $6.99 | 654 92% | 20k | $137k (exactly $137,144) | LuminatiGames |
 | 校长模拟器 | older | $19.99 | 74 12% | 2.2k | $44k (exactly $44,378) | 校长模拟器 |
 | Hazeron Starship | older | $19.99 | 55 70% | 1.7k | $33k (exactly $32,984) | Hazeron Freehold LLC |
 | Native Hunter | $17.99 | 58 72% | 1.7k | $31k (exactly $31,303) | A.P.S | |
 | Sex Vault: The Lust-Tec Project | $9.99 | 79 83% | 2.4k | $24k (exactly $23,676) | Kinky Business Group | |
 | Shores of Loci | older | $14.99 | 46 91% | 1.4k | $21k (exactly $20,686) | MikeTeevee |
 | 双雄风流传（Romantic Emperor） | $2.18 | 53 86% | 1.6k | $3.5k (exactly $3,466) | Turtle game | |
 | Veilscripture AI | $39.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) | Lanternwake | |
 | Checkpoint Inc | $4.27 | 8 75% | 240 | $1.0k (exactly $1,025) | Punchers | |
 | A Beaver's Tale | $4.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $748 (exactly $748) | Michael Jared Games | |
 | Outsanity | $5.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $719 (exactly $719) | Damar Studio | |
 | Gatekeeper Simulator: Inner Circle | $4.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $449 (exactly $449) | Revolt Entertainment | |
 | Lore of the Frog | $1.99 | 7 100% | 210 | $418 (exactly $418) | Bacho, GHC |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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