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Should I ship a Loot Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Loot + Choose Your Own Adventure
Only 16 developers shipped a Loot Choose Your Own Adventure game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Lucky Tower Ultimate, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 42 more are announced, ×4.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360, ×0.6 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180. 42 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 per shipper, while revenue is up 285% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $178 (exactly $178) |
|---|---|
| Median | $359 (exactly $359) |
| Top 25% | $56k (exactly $55,744) |
| Top 5% | $1.0M (exactly $1,025,766) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 54 |
| Announced | 42 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 285% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Loot
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Loot, Choose Your Own Adventure; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Roguelite
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 3,630 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 42 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Loot with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceStrong odds
- + Local Co-OpStrong odds
- + SteampunkStrong odds
- + CapitalismFair
- + Turn-Based StrategyFair
- + JRPGFair
- + EconomyFair
- + IdlerFair
- + CatsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Creature CollectorFair
- + CollectathonFair
Comparable games
Pixel Piracy 2014 · $2.6M 
轮回修仙路 2023 · $1.5M 
Lucky Tower Ultimate 2026 · $1.0M 
Spirit Realm 2024 · EA · $752k 
The Use of Life 2025 · $458k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Pixel Piracy | older | $14.99 | 5,713 65% | 171k | $2.6M (exactly $2,569,136) | Vitali Kirpu |
| | 轮回修仙路 | older | $16.99 | 2,945 82% | 88k | $1.5M (exactly $1,501,066) | 烟水寒工作室 |
| | Lucky Tower Ultimate | $14.99 | 2,281 94% | 68k | $1.0M (exactly $1,025,766) | Studio Seufz | |
| | Spirit Realm | · EA older | $18.18 | 1,379 76% | 41k | $752k (exactly $752,107) | 深圳市灵境互娱科技有限公司 |
| | The Use of Life | $19.99 | 764 90% | 23k | $458k (exactly $458,171) | だらねこげーむず/Daraneko Games | |
 | Pirates VR: Jolly Roger | $19.99 | 212 76% | 6.4k | $127k (exactly $127,136) | Split Light Studio | |
 | Lost Scavenger | · EA older | $14.99 | 220 51% | 6.6k | $99k (exactly $98,934) | Rockbee |
 | Stash: A Card Looter | $9.99 | 186 79% | 5.6k | $56k (exactly $55,744) | WheeGaming | |
 | Eggstreme Farming | $6.99 | 169 73% | 5.1k | $35k (exactly $35,439) | Sagitta Studios | |
 | Kowloon High-School Chronicle | older | $19.99 | 51 90% | 1.5k | $31k (exactly $30,585) | TOYBOX |
 | After Midnight | · EA | $4.99 | 6 16% | 180 | $898 (exactly $898) | Digital Forge |
 | Idle Keep | $4.25 | 5 60% | 150 | $638 (exactly $638) | PixelBitGames | |
 | Layer8Problem | $2.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $359 (exactly $359) | Schnaftikus Games | |
 | Pickscover 2 | · EA | $4.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | WestDeveloper |
 | Defest | · EA | $7.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $240 (exactly $240) | Fleshbite Studios LLC |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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