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Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure Space Sim?
Space Sim + Choose Your Own Adventure
Only 19 developers shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure Space Sim 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, Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 26 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $210, ×0.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50. 26 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper, while revenue is down 80% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $30 (exactly $30) |
|---|---|
| Median | $210 (exactly $210) |
| Top 25% | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) |
| Top 5% | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 51 |
| Announced | 26 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 down 80% on the market, supply 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Space Sim
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Space Sim, Choose Your Own Adventure; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Exploration, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.69 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $49.69 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 4,370 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 26 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Space Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DestructionFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + WarFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SportsFair
- + DiplomacyLong shot
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Strategy RPGPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
FTL: Faster Than Light 2012 · $19M 
Avorion 2020 · $9.7M 
Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown 2026 · $4.4M 
The Fermi Paradox 2021 · EA · $545k 
Earth Analog 2021 · $61k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | FTL: Faster Than Light | older | $9.99 | 62,763 94% | 1.9M | $19M (exactly $18,810,071) | Subset Games |
| | Avorion | older | $24.99 | 13,001 90% | 390k | $9.7M (exactly $9,746,850) | Boxelware |
| | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
| | The Fermi Paradox | · EA older | $18.99 | 956 76% | 29k | $545k (exactly $544,633) | Anomaly Games |
| | Earth Analog | older | $19.99 | 101 65% | 3.0k | $61k (exactly $60,570) | Funcraft Games |
 | Lunar Ascendant | $14.99 | 86 44% | 2.6k | $39k (exactly $38,674) | Darts Games | |
 | Starlight Drifter | older | $19.99 | 46 67% | 1.4k | $28k (exactly $27,586) | Dharker Studios |
 | A Long Journey to an Uncertain End | older | $24.99 | 33 75% | 990 | $25k (exactly $24,740) | Crispy Creative |
 | Meco Rocket Simulator | · EA | $49.69 | 15 80% | 450 | $22k (exactly $22,360) | Loren Aerospace |
 | CyberHive | older | $7.99 | 72 77% | 2.2k | $17k (exactly $17,258) | Blazing Planet Studio |
 | Don't Crash | $4.99 | 68 98% | 2.0k | $10k (exactly $10,180) | Override Studio | |
 | たんぽぽプラネット-Dandelion Planet- | $12.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) | Mareffy, Mareffy's games | |
 | Into the M.A.W. | $14.99 | 11 100% | 330 | $4.9k (exactly $4,947) | Moonrise Studios | |
 | Macht: Cosmic Engine | · EA | $24.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $3.7k (exactly $3,748) | Kestro Games |
 | Let's Build Wonders: Galaxy | $6.99 | 5 20% | 150 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | Sunjoy Meta | |
 | Sad Virus Space | $2.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $269 (exactly $269) | DIG Games | |
 | Only Up To Space | $6.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $210 (exactly $210) | Mascot Bro Studio, PixelHixel Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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