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Should I ship a Dystopian Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Choose Your Own Adventure + Dystopian
Of 54 developers who shipped a Dystopian 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.. 154 more are announced, ×4.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.6k, ×7.6 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $570; 1 in 20 cleared $240k, ×518 the market median. Revenue is up 15% on the market; 154 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $564 (exactly $564) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $15,592) |
| Top 5% | $246k (exactly $245,986) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 54 |
| Released games | 158 |
| Announced | 154 |
| 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 up 15% on the market, supply 125% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
- Dystopian
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Choose Your Own Adventure; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Choices Matter, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 7,506 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $570. 9 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 154 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series | older | $49.99 | 36,594 96% | 1.1M | $55M (exactly $54,880,022) | Skybound Games |
| | Watch Dogs®: Legion | older | $59.99 | 11,891 56% | 357k | $21M (exactly $21,400,233) | Ubisoft Toronto |
| | Road 96 🛣️ | older | $19.96 | 22,118 91% | 664k | $13M (exactly $13,244,258) | Digixart |
| | Not For Broadcast | older | $24.99 | 10,337 94% | 310k | $7.7M (exactly $7,749,649) | NotGames |
| | Minds Beneath Us | older | $19.99 | 5,749 96% | 172k | $3.4M (exactly $3,447,675) | BearBoneStudio |
| | Beholder: Conductor | $13.99 | 4,532 91% | 136k | $1.9M (exactly $1,902,080) | Alawar | |
| | Beholder 3 | older | $17.99 | 2,275 63% | 68k | $1.2M (exactly $1,227,818) | Paintbucket Games |
| | 7 Days to End with You | older | $7.99 | 3,327 87% | 100k | $797k (exactly $797,482) | Lizardry |
| | Road 96: Mile 0 | older | $12.96 | 1,880 67% | 56k | $731k (exactly $730,944) | Digixart |
| | Kemono Teatime | $12.99 | 1,617 95% | 49k | $630k (exactly $630,145) | Studio Lalala, Kotoneiro, WHO YOU | |
| | Sophie: The Girl From The Zone | $14.99 | 547 87% | 16k | $246k (exactly $245,986) | DavyCroquetteGame | |
| | The World Well: Blood of Caro | $11.99 | 205 85% | 6.2k | $74k (exactly $73,738) | Nimparth | |
| | Choice of Life: Samosbor | $4.99 | 236 87% | 7.1k | $35k (exactly $35,329) | Blazing Planet Studio | |
| | Future? No Thanks! | $19.99 | 47 100% | 1.4k | $28k (exactly $28,186) | Molleindustria | |
| | Inhuman Resources: A Literary Machination | $14.99 | 61 90% | 1.8k | $27k (exactly $27,432) | Finnegan Motors | |
| | Underchoice | $7.99 | 113 72% | 3.4k | $27k (exactly $27,086) | TG Indie | |
| | Saviour of the Wasteland | $9.99 | 84 78% | 2.5k | $25k (exactly $25,175) | PTGames | |
| | I.T. Never Ends | $12.99 | 64 98% | 1.9k | $25k (exactly $24,941) | Dadbod Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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