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Should I ship a Character Customization Interactive Fiction?
Character Customization + Interactive Fiction
Of 71 developers who shipped a Character Customization 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.. 186 more are announced, ×4.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.7k, ×2.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $390; 1 in 20 cleared $540k, ×869 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 186 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $390 (exactly $390) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) |
| Top 25% | $19k (exactly $18,591) |
| Top 5% | $545k (exactly $545,486) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 71 |
| Released games | 311 |
| Announced | 186 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Character Customization
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, Interactive Fiction; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choices Matter, Choose Your Own Adventure
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 18,750 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $390. 9 in 10 of the 61 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 186 games are announced against 41 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Character Customization with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Real-TimeStrong odds
- + Music-Based Procedural GenerationFair
- + TransportationFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + BikesFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + TypingFair
Comparable games
SCARLET NEXUS 2021 · $25M 
Esoteric Ebb 2026 · $6.5M 
Death and Taxes 2020 · $3.1M 
School Days 2026 · $2.7M 
New Tales from the Borderlands 2022 · $2.1M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SCARLET NEXUS | older | $59.99 | 13,749 81% | 412k | $25M (exactly $24,744,075) | BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc. |
| | Esoteric Ebb | $24.99 | 8,719 95% | 262k | $6.5M (exactly $6,536,634) | Christoffer Bodegård | |
| | Death and Taxes | older | $12.99 | 7,855 86% | 236k | $3.1M (exactly $3,061,094) | Placeholder Gameworks |
| | School Days | $14.99 | 6,023 77% | 181k | $2.7M (exactly $2,708,543) | 白雨工作室 | |
| | New Tales from the Borderlands | older | $39.99 | 1,737 29% | 52k | $2.1M (exactly $2,083,879) | Gearbox Software |
 | My Friend Peppa Pig | older | $39.99 | 769 89% | 23k | $923k (exactly $922,569) | Petoons Studio |
 | Sensei! I Like You So Much! | $16.99 | 1,304 86% | 39k | $665k (exactly $664,649) | LaoO Studio (Shanghai Ou Ou Xi Network… (LaoO Studio (Shanghai Ou Ou Xi Network Technology Co. LTD）) | |
 | Super Naughty Maid 2 | older | $15.99 | 1,261 86% | 38k | $605k (exactly $604,902) | KENZsoft |
 | JASON, Coming of Age | $14.99 | 1,213 83% | 36k | $545k (exactly $545,486) | Coeur de cochon | |
 | King Of The Castle | older | $9.99 | 1,403 90% | 42k | $420k (exactly $420,479) | Tributary Games |
 | DDinosaur with Double D's | $6.99 | 771 97% | 23k | $162k (exactly $161,679) | Kud | |
 | Erannorth Renaissance | $19.99 | 186 81% | 5.6k | $112k (exactly $111,544) | Spyridon Thalassinos | |
 | Dreams of Amelia 🔞[ADULT NSFW] | $14.99 | 225 77% | 6.8k | $101k (exactly $101,182) | CuddlePoint ❤️ | |
 | ComeCloser | $39.99 | 60 68% | 1.8k | $72k (exactly $71,982) | CCT | |
 | Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall | · EA | $19.99 | 111 71% | 3.3k | $67k (exactly $66,567) | A Memory of Eternity |
 | Detective Dotson | $14.99 | 138 78% | 4.1k | $62k (exactly $62,059) | Masala Games Private Limited |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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