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Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure Immersive Sim?
Immersive Sim + Choose Your Own Adventure
Of 277 developers who shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure Immersive Sim 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.. 409 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.0k, ×2.7 the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $810; 1 in 20 cleared $460k, ×312 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 409 games are announced against 163 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $807 (exactly $807) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.0k (exactly $4,047) |
| Top 25% | $39k (exactly $38,674) |
| Top 5% | $467k (exactly $466,748) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 277 |
| Released games | 731 |
| Announced | 409 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 flat on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Immersive Sim
- effort 8 / 10 · low · effort 8 sits in the low band
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Immersive Sim, Choose Your Own Adventure; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Simulation, Adventure
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Emotional, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 30,755 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $810. 6 in 10 of the 159 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 409 games are announced against 163 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Immersive Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Trading Card GameStrong odds
- + MinigamesStrong odds
- + WesternStrong odds
- + BoxingStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + RomanceFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Split ScreenFair
Comparable games
Disney Dreamlight Valley 2023 · $26M 
Love Is All Around 2023 · $11M 
House Party 2022 · $10M 
60 Seconds! Reatomized 2019 · $5.5M 
The Operator 2024 · $3.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Disney Dreamlight Valley | older | $39.99 | 22,027 92% | 661k | $26M (exactly $26,425,792) | Gameloft |
| | Love Is All Around | older | $9.99 | 36,203 93% | 1.1M | $11M (exactly $10,850,039) | intiny |
| | House Party | older | $24.99 | 13,968 85% | 419k | $10M (exactly $10,471,810) | Eek! Games, LLC |
| | 60 Seconds! Reatomized | older | $9.99 | 18,362 94% | 551k | $5.5M (exactly $5,503,091) | Robot Gentleman |
| | The Operator | older | $13.99 | 8,515 91% | 255k | $3.6M (exactly $3,573,746) | Bureau 81 |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof | $19.99 | 5,881 91% | 176k | $3.5M (exactly $3,526,836) | Storytaco | |
 | 60 Seconds! | older | $8.99 | 10,491 84% | 315k | $2.8M (exactly $2,829,423) | Robot Gentleman |
 | School Days | $14.99 | 6,023 77% | 181k | $2.7M (exactly $2,708,543) | 白雨工作室 | |
 | No Case Should Remain Unsolved | older | $6.99 | 10,332 96% | 310k | $2.2M (exactly $2,166,620) | Somi |
 | Car Service Together | · EA | $19.99 | 3,589 79% | 108k | $2.2M (exactly $2,152,323) | V12 Studio |
 | The Three Kingdoms: Rebirth | $19.99 | 2,564 91% | 77k | $1.5M (exactly $1,537,631) | 玛奇阿朵互娱科技, 山与海工作室 | |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof season2 | $22.99 | 2,149 96% | 64k | $1.5M (exactly $1,482,165) | Storytaco | |
 | SubZero | $9.99 | 2,719 92% | 82k | $815k (exactly $814,884) | Joy Media Limited | |
 | Politics The Game | $9.99 | 2,526 95% | 76k | $757k (exactly $757,042) | Simplicity Games | |
 | Kemono Teatime | $12.99 | 1,617 95% | 49k | $630k (exactly $630,145) | Studio Lalala, Kotoneiro, WHO YOU | |
 | Love is All Around: Echoes of Yesterday | $10.99 | 1,850 81% | 56k | $610k (exactly $609,945) | intiny | |
 | 我只是想让她们都幸福 | $9.99 | 1,837 97% | 55k | $551k (exactly $550,549) | 心宿影视 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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