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Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure City Builder?
City Builder + Choose Your Own Adventure
Of 34 developers who shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure City Builder 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.. 52 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×3.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $2.3M, ×3672 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 52 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.9k (exactly $1,915) |
| Top 25% | $10k (exactly $10,190) |
| Top 5% | $2.3M (exactly $2,305,846) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 34 |
| Released games | 73 |
| Announced | 52 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 55% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- City Builder
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- City Builder, Choose Your Own Adventure; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Building, Resource Management
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 70% positive over 17,286 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 52 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
City Builder with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Visual NovelStrong odds
- + LogicFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + RacingLong shot
- + RomePoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + HorrorPoor odds
- + Alternate HistoryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + DiplomacyPoor odds
Comparable games
Anno 1800 2019 · $54M 
Anno 117: Pax Romana 2025 · $22M 
Hollywood Animal 2025 · EA · $2.3M 
Celestial Empire 2025 · EA · $425k 
Slow living with Princess 2023 · $348k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Anno 1800 | older | $59.99 | 29,854 81% | 896k | $54M (exactly $53,728,244) | Ubisoft Mainz |
| | Anno 117: Pax Romana | $59.99 | 12,150 69% | 365k | $22M (exactly $21,866,355) | Ubisoft Mainz | |
| | Hollywood Animal | · EA | $19.99 | 3,845 73% | 115k | $2.3M (exactly $2,305,846) | Weappy Wholesome |
| | Celestial Empire | · EA | $19.99 | 709 89% | 21k | $425k (exactly $425,187) | President Studio |
| | Slow living with Princess | older | $19.99 | 580 87% | 17k | $348k (exactly $347,826) | KADOKAWA, TSUKURITE. |
 | Super Dungeon Maker | older | $19.99 | 388 82% | 12k | $233k (exactly $232,684) | FIRECHICK |
 | Korea Dynasty (조선메타실록) | · EA older | $23.99 | 267 72% | 8.0k | $192k (exactly $192,160) | Happy Daram Inc. |
 | PuPu's Adventure Park | $14.99 | 130 64% | 3.9k | $58k (exactly $58,461) | 西梅树工作室 | |
 | Colonize | $9.99 | 192 39% | 5.8k | $58k (exactly $57,542) | Rembrosoft | |
 | KingSim | older | $9.99 | 189 83% | 5.7k | $57k (exactly $56,643) | Fuzzy Pixel Game Studio |
 | Mistwinter Bay | $29.99 | 50 84% | 1.5k | $45k (exactly $44,985) | Swordlake Entertainment | |
 | Milord | · EA | $9.99 | 104 64% | 3.1k | $31k (exactly $31,169) | iBright Games |
 | Heroic Songs: the Remix! | $16.99 | 56 92% | 1.7k | $29k (exactly $28,543) | Emma Create | |
 | Undomestic | $9.99 | 34 41% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | Tempest Studios | |
 | Cult Leader Simulator | $17.99 | 16 50% | 480 | $8.6k (exactly $8,635) | Nhneno |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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