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Should I ship an Investigation Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Investigation + Choose Your Own Adventure
Of 158 developers who shipped an Investigation 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.. 346 more are announced, ×3.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×2.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $390; 1 in 20 cleared $320k, ×678 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 346 games are announced against 96 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $390 (exactly $390) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) |
| Top 25% | $7.9k (exactly $7,913) |
| Top 5% | $322k (exactly $321,985) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 158 |
| Released games | 471 |
| Announced | 346 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 down 60% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Investigation
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Investigation, Choose Your Own Adventure; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Visual Novel, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 40,425 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $390. 8 in 10 of the 74 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 346 games are announced against 96 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Investigation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Escape RoomFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TriviaLong shot
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + GothicPoor odds
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Card GamePoor odds
- + SciencePoor odds
Comparable games
Magical Girl Witch Trials 2025 · $27M 
Pentiment 2022 · $5.5M 
The Casting of Frank Stone™ 2024 · $5.0M 
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy 2024 · $4.9M 
AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative 2022 · $4.3M | 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 | |
| | Pentiment | older | $19.99 | 9,231 95% | 277k | $5.5M (exactly $5,535,831) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| | The Casting of Frank Stone™ | older | $29.99 | 5,580 62% | 167k | $5.0M (exactly $5,020,326) | Supermassive Games |
| | 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. |
 | The Operator | older | $13.99 | 8,515 91% | 255k | $3.6M (exactly $3,573,746) | Bureau 81 |
 | Far Away | older | $12.99 | 7,598 94% | 228k | $3.0M (exactly $2,960,941) | Gratesca |
 | BURIED STARS | older | $39.99 | 2,117 83% | 64k | $2.5M (exactly $2,539,765) | LINE Games Corporation |
 | Her Story | older | $9.99 | 8,367 89% | 251k | $2.5M (exactly $2,507,590) | Sam Barlow |
 | Beholder: Conductor | $13.99 | 4,532 91% | 136k | $1.9M (exactly $1,902,080) | Alawar | |
 | Kindergarten 3 | $19.99 | 1,774 94% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,063,868) | Con Man Games, Sean Young | |
 | 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 | |
 | Best Served Cold | $17.99 | 671 87% | 20k | $362k (exactly $362,139) | Rogueside | |
 | Stellar Code | $24.98 | 448 97% | 13k | $336k (exactly $335,731) | Fragaria | |
 | Confidential Killings - A Detective Game | $14.99 | 716 76% | 21k | $322k (exactly $321,985) | BRANE, Lorenzo Boni | |
 | Taboo University Book One | $14.99 | 332 79% | 10k | $149k (exactly $149,300) | ViNovella Games | |
 | Burden Street Station | $14.99 | 326 97% | 9.8k | $147k (exactly $146,602) | IODINE |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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