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Should I ship a Time-Travel Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Choose Your Own Adventure + Time Travel
Of 36 developers who shipped a Time-Travel 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.. 45 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.7k, ×7.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $320k, ×684 the market median. Revenue is down 15% on the market; 45 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.7k (exactly $3,748) |
| Top 25% | $30k (exactly $30,221) |
| Top 5% | $325k (exactly $325,133) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 36 |
| Released games | 88 |
| Announced | 45 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 15% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 11%, 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
- Time Travel
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Choose Your Own Adventure; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Visual Novel, Adventure
- Price point
- $11.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Colorful, Comedy
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 3,923 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 7 in 10 of the 19 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 45 games are announced against 18 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 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
Life is Strange: Before the Storm 2017 · $17M 
Rue Valley 2025 · $857k 
Hashihime of the Old Book Town 2019 · $683k 
Critters for Sale 2021 · $541k 
A Guidebook of Babel 2023 · $394k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Life is Strange: Before the Storm | older | $16.99 | 33,504 93% | 1.0M | $17M (exactly $17,076,989) | Deck Nine, Feral Interactive (Mac), Fer… (Deck Nine, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | Rue Valley | $14.99 | 1,905 69% | 57k | $857k (exactly $856,678) | Emotion Spark Studio | |
| | Hashihime of the Old Book Town | older | $34.99 | 651 96% | 20k | $683k (exactly $683,355) | ADELTA |
| | Critters for Sale | older | $9.99 | 1,805 94% | 54k | $541k (exactly $540,958) | Sonoshee |
| | A Guidebook of Babel | older | $14.99 | 877 92% | 26k | $394k (exactly $394,387) | StarryStarry |
 | ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos | older | $29.99 | 379 95% | 11k | $341k (exactly $340,986) | MyDearest Inc. |
 | Eternal Threads | older | $19.99 | 543 87% | 16k | $326k (exactly $325,637) | Cosmonaut Studios |
 | Sexbot | $14.99 | 723 86% | 22k | $325k (exactly $325,133) | Llamamann Games | |
 | マーダーミステリーパラドクス このひと夏の十五年 | older | $19.99 | 249 85% | 7.5k | $149k (exactly $149,325) | 213℉ |
 | Yet Another Killing Game | $16.99 | 242 96% | 7.3k | $123k (exactly $123,347) | Soulseer Studios | |
 | My Fav Chill Streamer Dies a Million Times｜ゆるゆる生配信する推しは100万回死ぬ | $34.99 | 114 92% | 3.4k | $120k (exactly $119,666) | VELUX STUDIO | |
 | Mech Academy | $9.99 | 214 91% | 6.4k | $64k (exactly $64,136) | Space Samurai Studio | |
 | Time Space Rebuild | $4.99 | 377 76% | 11k | $56k (exactly $56,437) | INNOVATION DREAM | |
 | Train and Tame | $9.99 | 184 65% | 5.5k | $55k (exactly $55,145) | Tames Games | |
 | Timestamps: Lost Love | $19.99 | 56 82% | 1.7k | $34k (exactly $33,583) | Motkeyz Games | |
 | Love starts again | $15.99 | 63 71% | 1.9k | $30k (exactly $30,221) | WWWave Corporation | |
 | Kill The Clock | · EA | $14.99 | 45 88% | 1.4k | $20k (exactly $20,236) | Happy Slugs |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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