Games › Choose Your Own Adventure › Choose Your Own Adventure + Pirates
Should I ship a Pirate Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Choose Your Own Adventure + Pirates
Only 18 developers shipped a Pirate 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, Rise of Piracy, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 27 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $240k, ×397 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 27 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $6.0k (exactly $5,998) |
| Top 5% | $249k (exactly $249,444) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 58 |
| Announced | 27 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 down 70% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, 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
- Pirates
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Choose Your Own Adventure; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Action
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 1,072 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 27 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 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
Pixel Piracy 2014 · $2.6M 
Sid Meier's Pirates! 2005 · $1.9M 
Abandon Ship 2019 · $863k 
Windward 2015 · $800k 
Blood and Gold: Caribbean! 2015 · $712k | 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 |
| | Sid Meier's Pirates! | older | $9.99 | 6,198 94% | 186k | $1.9M (exactly $1,857,541) | Firaxis Games |
| | Abandon Ship | older | $24.99 | 1,151 71% | 35k | $863k (exactly $862,905) | Fireblade Software |
| | Windward | older | $9.99 | 2,668 79% | 80k | $800k (exactly $799,600) | Tasharen Entertainment Inc. |
| | Blood and Gold: Caribbean! | older | $19.99 | 1,188 59% | 36k | $712k (exactly $712,444) | Snowbird Games |
 | Corsairs Legacy - Pirate Action RPG & Sea Battles | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,094 74% | 33k | $656k (exactly $656,072) | Mauris, Tech-5 UG |
 | Nantucket | older | $17.99 | 782 78% | 23k | $422k (exactly $422,045) | Picaresque Games |
 | Rise of Piracy | · EA | $15.99 | 520 77% | 16k | $249k (exactly $249,444) | IrishJohnGames |
 | The Pirate's Fate | older | $19.99 | 263 87% | 7.9k | $158k (exactly $157,721) | T.F. Wright, Volkenfox |
 | Pirates VR: Jolly Roger | $19.99 | 212 76% | 6.4k | $127k (exactly $127,136) | Split Light Studio | |
 | Erannorth Renaissance | $19.99 | 186 81% | 5.6k | $112k (exactly $111,544) | Spyridon Thalassinos | |
 | Revenge of Black Bone | $14.99 | 112 64% | 3.4k | $50k (exactly $50,366) | Entropy Digital Entertainment | |
 | Seven Seas: Adventures | · EA | $24.99 | 8 25% | 240 | $6.0k (exactly $5,998) | Concept Games |
 | Tales From The Under-Realm: Lilith | $14.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $4.9k (exactly $4,947) | Winter Wolves | |
 | To Grant A Wish | $15.00 | 8 100% | 240 | $3.6k (exactly $3,600) | Wizard Raz Studios | |
 | Samurai's Odyssey | · EA | $7.99 | 6 66% | 180 | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) | CODEUM GAMES, 11Gen |
 | Scarlet Sails | $3.99 | 6 33% | 180 | $718 (exactly $718) | Hosted Games | |
 | Exploration | $6.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $629 (exactly $629) | Software 2000 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.