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Should I ship a Detective Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Choose Your Own Adventure + Detective
Of 173 developers who shipped a Detective Choose Your Own Adventure game 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.. 321 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×3.1 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $190k, ×403 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 321 games are announced against 98 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) |
| Top 25% | $12k (exactly $12,288) |
| Top 5% | $192k (exactly $191,636) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 173 |
| Released games | 482 |
| Announced | 321 |
| Effort | 3 / 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 10% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
- Detective
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Choose Your Own Adventure; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Visual Novel, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Text-Based
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 42,145 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 88 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 321 games are announced against 98 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Choose Your Own Adventure with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RhythmStrong odds
- + FMVFair
- + FlightFair
- + SportsFair
- + Word GameFair
- + MilitaryFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + IdlerFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Local MultiplayerFair
- + 3D FighterLong shot
- + NavalPoor odds
Comparable games
Magical Girl Witch Trials 2025 · $27M 
The Wolf Among Us 2013 · $15M 
Batman - The Telltale Series 2016 · $6.8M 
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles 2021 · $6.1M 
Pentiment 2022 · $5.5M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Magical Girl Witch Trials | $29.99 | 29,869 96% | 896k | $27M (exactly $26,873,139) | Acacia, Re,AER | |
| | The Wolf Among Us | older | $14.99 | 32,494 97% | 975k | $15M (exactly $14,612,552) | Telltale |
| | Batman - The Telltale Series | older | $14.99 | 15,060 87% | 452k | $6.8M (exactly $6,772,482) | Telltale |
| | The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles | older | $39.99 | 5,113 93% | 153k | $6.1M (exactly $6,134,066) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| | Pentiment | older | $19.99 | 9,231 95% | 277k | $5.5M (exactly $5,535,831) | Obsidian Entertainment |
 | Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy | older | $49.99 | 3,261 88% | 98k | $4.9M (exactly $4,890,522) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
 | AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative | older | $39.99 | 3,571 86% | 107k | $4.3M (exactly $4,284,129) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
 | Ace Attorney Investigations Collection | older | $39.99 | 3,401 96% | 102k | $4.1M (exactly $4,080,180) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
 | Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series | older | $14.99 | 8,877 92% | 266k | $4.0M (exactly $3,991,987) | Telltale |
 | The Operator | older | $13.99 | 8,515 91% | 255k | $3.6M (exactly $3,573,746) | Bureau 81 |
 | Urban Myth Dissolution Center | $17.99 | 5,930 88% | 178k | $3.2M (exactly $3,200,421) | Hakababunko | |
 | No Sleep For Kaname Date - From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES | $39.99 | 835 79% | 25k | $1.0M (exactly $1,001,750) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
 | Staffer Retro : A Supernatural Mystery Quest | $24.99 | 922 89% | 28k | $691k (exactly $691,223) | Team Tetrapod | |
 | Game of Fate 2: A Century's Promise | $15.99 | 1,054 78% | 32k | $506k (exactly $505,604) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Game Of Fate 3：Clash Of Crowns | $16.79 | 734 85% | 22k | $370k (exactly $369,716) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Best Served Cold | $17.99 | 671 87% | 20k | $362k (exactly $362,139) | Rogueside | |
 | Game of Fate: Chasing Through Time | $10.99 | 986 88% | 30k | $325k (exactly $325,084) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Confidential Killings - A Detective Game | $14.99 | 716 76% | 21k | $322k (exactly $321,985) | BRANE, Lorenzo Boni | |
 | Detective Sherlock: Shadow Stalker | · EA | $19.99 | 428 88% | 13k | $257k (exactly $256,672) | Gamercury |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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