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Should I ship a Cat Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Cats
Of 39 developers who shipped a Cat Interactive Fiction 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.. 56 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $960, ×8.1 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $62k, ×524 the market median. Revenue is up 125% on the market; 56 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $959 (exactly $959) |
| Top 25% | $6.8k (exactly $6,750) |
| Top 5% | $62k (exactly $62,369) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 39 |
| Released games | 113 |
| Announced | 56 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 125% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Cats
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Adventure, Hidden Object
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Funny, Comedy
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 1,129 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 9 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 23 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Interactive Fiction with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + VampiresFair
- + SportsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PiratesFair
- + DrivingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Board GameFair
- + SnowFair
- + BuildingFair
Comparable games
Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure 2019 · $1.3M 
Cat's Kiss 2022 · $687k 
Cats and the Other Lives 2022 · $653k 
Mashiroiro Symphony HD -Love is Pure White- 2024 · $425k 
Mashiroiro Symphony HD -Sana Edition- 2024 · $404k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure | older | $19.99 | 2,089 89% | 63k | $1.3M (exactly $1,252,773) | Stuck In Attic |
| | Cat's Kiss | older | $14.99 | 1,528 89% | 46k | $687k (exactly $687,142) | Narrator, STORIA |
| | Cats and the Other Lives | older | $19.99 | 1,089 91% | 33k | $653k (exactly $653,073) | Cultic Games |
| | Mashiroiro Symphony HD -Love is Pure White- | older | $39.99 | 354 87% | 11k | $425k (exactly $424,694) | Palette |
| | Mashiroiro Symphony HD -Sana Edition- | older | $29.99 | 449 91% | 13k | $404k (exactly $403,965) | Palette |
 | Bear's Restaurant | older | $12.99 | 649 94% | 19k | $253k (exactly $252,915) | Odencat |
 | CAT Interstellar | older | $9.99 | 695 70% | 21k | $208k (exactly $208,292) | Ionized Games |
 | Dyping Escape | $9.99 | 544 91% | 16k | $163k (exactly $163,037) | Heaviside Creations | |
 | Purrfect Apawcalypse: Love at Furst Bite | older | $4.99 | 826 98% | 25k | $124k (exactly $123,652) | Denny Truong, Andy Schneider |
 | Purrfect Apawcalypse: Patches' Infurno | older | $6.99 | 440 99% | 13k | $92k (exactly $92,268) | Denny Truong, Andy Schneider |
 | Moses & Plato - Last Train to Clawville | $19.99 | 104 88% | 3.1k | $62k (exactly $62,369) | The Wild Gentlemen | |
 | Cat Detective Albert Wilde | $11.99 | 121 93% | 3.6k | $44k (exactly $43,524) | beyondthosehills | |
 | Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery | $9.99 | 96 92% | 2.9k | $29k (exactly $28,771) | Nobody Crown | |
 | A Storied Life: Tabitha | $14.99 | 61 78% | 1.8k | $27k (exactly $27,432) | Lab42 | |
 | Still It Runs | $9.99 | 70 48% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $20,979) | NAYUG, KADOKAWA | |
 | Party on Hallow Grove | $9.99 | 47 100% | 1.4k | $14k (exactly $14,086) | vaaasm | |
 | Fofumia | $15.99 | 21 85% | 630 | $10k (exactly $10,074) | Actoon Studio | |
 | Marron's Day | $9.99 | 29 96% | 870 | $8.7k (exactly $8,691) | npckc | |
 | I Hear Them | $6.25 | 36 86% | 1.1k | $6.8k (exactly $6,750) | Strange Presence |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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