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Should I ship a Choices Matter Escape Room game?
Choices Matter + Escape Room
Only 18 developers shipped a Choices Matter Escape Room 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, Titanic Escape Simulator™, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 15 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.7k, ×9.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $450. Revenue is flat on the market; 15 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $450 (exactly $450) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.7k (exactly $4,662) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $11,611) |
| Top 5% | $224k (exactly $224,288) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 43 |
| Announced | 15 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 flat on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Choices Matter
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Escape Room
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Choices Matter, Escape Room; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Simulation
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 1,642 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. All of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 15 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Choices Matter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + SportsFair
- + RhythmFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + TriviaFair
- + Board GameFair
- + RacingFair
- + ChessFair
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + RomePoor odds
- + World War IPoor odds
- + VampiresPoor odds
Comparable games
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games 2017 · $6.3M 
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma 2016 · $2.8M 
Syberia 3 2017 · $1.5M 
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey 2007 · $651k 
Toilet Chronicles 2022 · $462k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Zero Escape: The Nonary Games | older | $29.99 | 7,007 92% | 210k | $6.3M (exactly $6,304,198) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
| | Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma | older | $19.99 | 4,669 81% | 140k | $2.8M (exactly $2,799,999) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
| | Syberia 3 | older | $14.99 | 3,231 51% | 97k | $1.5M (exactly $1,452,981) | Microids |
| | Dreamfall: The Longest Journey | older | $19.99 | 1,086 83% | 33k | $651k (exactly $651,274) | Funcom |
| | Toilet Chronicles | older | $9.99 | 1,542 89% | 46k | $462k (exactly $462,137) | Madi Abdykarimov |
 | Homebody | older | $19.99 | 632 93% | 19k | $379k (exactly $379,010) | Game Grumps |
 | Creepy Tale 3: Ingrid Penance | older | $9.99 | 769 92% | 23k | $230k (exactly $230,469) | Creepy Brothers |
 | Titanic Escape Simulator™ | $19.99 | 374 52% | 11k | $224k (exactly $224,288) | magicprostudio, Vintage Digital Revival | |
 | The Tartarus Key | older | $19.99 | 236 92% | 7.1k | $142k (exactly $141,529) | Vertical Reach |
 | My Fav Chill Streamer Dies a Million Times｜ゆるゆる生配信する推しは100万回死ぬ | $34.99 | 114 92% | 3.4k | $120k (exactly $119,666) | VELUX STUDIO | |
 | We Escaped a Twisted Game | $4.99 | 792 94% | 24k | $119k (exactly $118,562) | Deluded Games | |
 | Letter Lost | $19.99 | 156 82% | 4.7k | $94k (exactly $93,553) | FlatNine Games | |
 | BRELOK -ねずみたちの脱出- | $3.99 | 97 91% | 2.9k | $12k (exactly $11,611) | ひろめてん | |
 | Advent: Dawn | $16.99 | 19 89% | 570 | $9.7k (exactly $9,684) | Spire Games | |
 | There's a Gun in the Office | $8.99 | 22 86% | 660 | $5.9k (exactly $5,933) | Ragir | |
 | Anomaly Rooms | $5.99 | 27 81% | 810 | $4.9k (exactly $4,852) | KisKis Game | |
 | The 5th Door | $5.55 | 28 96% | 840 | $4.7k (exactly $4,662) | German Rieck, Tomas Gonzalez | |
 | Stuck in the Present | $6.99 | 13 69% | 390 | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) | Dusk Wave Arts LLC |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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