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Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure Tower Defense?
Tower Defense + Choose Your Own Adventure
Only 7 developers shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure Tower Defense 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, HauntedManager, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 16 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $180 in the last 2 years and $180 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 3 / 10 build. 5 developers shipped in the last year and 16 games are announced.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $119 (exactly $119) |
|---|---|
| Median | $179 (exactly $179) |
| Top 25% | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) |
| Top 5% | $6.7k (exactly $6,651) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 7 |
| Released games | 26 |
| Announced | 16 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 150% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tower Defense
- 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
- Tower Defense, Choose Your Own Adventure
- Price point
- $8.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $10.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 508 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $120. All of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 16 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tower Defense with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DwarvesStrong odds
- + MiningFair
- + Survival HorrorFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + TanksFair
- + MechsFair
- + IdlerFair
- + PuzzleFair
- + Gun CustomizationFair
- + LogicFair
- + On-Rails ShooterFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
Comparable games
Control Craft 3 2016 · $35k 
Sierra Ops - Space Strategy Visual Novel 2020 · $19k 
HauntedManager 2025 · $6.7k 
Gold Defence 2025 · $6.0k 
Defence to death 2017 · $5.6k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Control Craft 3 | older | $4.99 | 235 73% | 7.1k | $35k (exactly $35,180) | Cristian Manolachi, Atomic Fabrik |
| | Sierra Ops - Space Strategy Visual Novel | older | $14.99 | 42 80% | 1.3k | $19k (exactly $18,887) | Innomen Team |
| | HauntedManager | $7.39 | 30 100% | 900 | $6.7k (exactly $6,651) | 魔女の脳 | |
| | Gold Defence | $9.99 | 20 65% | 600 | $6.0k (exactly $5,994) | Gamesforgames | |
| | Defence to death | older | $1.99 | 93 60% | 2.8k | $5.6k (exactly $5,552) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
 | Alpha Lyrae Discovery | · EA older | $10.99 | 16 87% | 480 | $5.3k (exactly $5,275) | xe2050 |
 | Lord of the Click: Interstellar Wars | older | $8.99 | 16 75% | 480 | $4.3k (exactly $4,315) | HugePixel |
 | Winning Tactics | $9.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) | Gamesforgames | |
 | Summoner's Automata | $9.99 | 14 85% | 420 | $4.2k (exactly $4,196) | Gamesforgames | |
 | Spider-Robots War | older | $2.99 | 28 60% | 840 | $2.5k (exactly $2,512) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
 | さーきゅらーディフェンス!!～とある辺境惑星開拓事務所、３０日の記録～ | $8.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $1.1k (exactly $1,079) | Picola Inc. | |
 | The Last Fortress | · EA | $2.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $179 (exactly $179) | Alvarobando |
 | Zombi Efem | $1.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $119 (exactly $119) | Spaceandtab Company | |
 | GastroNomicon | · EA | $9.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | TH3 NΔKOMΔ PROTOCOL |
 | Chess Flicks | $0.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | JDL |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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