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Should I ship a Zombie Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Choose Your Own Adventure + Zombies
Of 40 developers who shipped a Zombie 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.. 48 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×2.3 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $240k, ×392 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 48 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,468) |
| Top 25% | $6.0k (exactly $5,988) |
| Top 5% | $246k (exactly $245,986) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 40 |
| Released games | 121 |
| Announced | 48 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 15% fewer 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.
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
- Zombies
- 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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Adventure, RPG
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, First-Person, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 4,257 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 9 in 10 of the 26 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 19 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
DayZ 2018 · $582M 
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series 2020 · $55M 
The Walking Dead 2012 · $24M 
The Walking Dead: Season Two 2013 · $12M 
The Walking Dead: The Final Season 2018 · $10M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DayZ | older | $49.99 | 387,850 78% | 12M | $582M (exactly $581,658,645) | Bohemia Interactive |
| | The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series | older | $49.99 | 36,594 96% | 1.1M | $55M (exactly $54,880,022) | Skybound Games |
| | The Walking Dead | older | $14.99 | 53,650 97% | 1.6M | $24M (exactly $24,126,405) | Telltale Games |
| | The Walking Dead: Season Two | older | $14.99 | 26,848 96% | 805k | $12M (exactly $12,073,546) | Telltale Games |
| | The Walking Dead: The Final Season | older | $19.99 | 17,447 94% | 523k | $10M (exactly $10,462,966) | Telltale Games |
 | The Walking Dead: A New Frontier | older | $14.99 | 15,482 83% | 464k | $7.0M (exactly $6,962,255) | Telltale Games |
 | The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries | older | $14.99 | 6,047 80% | 181k | $2.7M (exactly $2,719,336) | Telltale Games |
 | Pathway | older | $15.99 | 1,908 76% | 57k | $915k (exactly $915,268) | Robotality |
 | SubZero | $9.99 | 2,719 92% | 82k | $815k (exactly $814,884) | Joy Media Limited | |
 | Sophie: The Girl From The Zone | $14.99 | 547 87% | 16k | $246k (exactly $245,986) | DavyCroquetteGame | |
 | Pirates VR: Jolly Roger | $19.99 | 212 76% | 6.4k | $127k (exactly $127,136) | Split Light Studio | |
 | Lustful Dead 🔞 | $9.99 | 267 49% | 8.0k | $80k (exactly $80,020) | BanzaiProject | |
 | Punishment NyanNyan R | $8.99 | 163 95% | 4.9k | $44k (exactly $43,961) | ぬるぬる坊主 | |
 | 108 Silly Ways to Die | $10.99 | 115 73% | 3.5k | $38k (exactly $37,916) | SEED Studio | |
 | World of Witchcraft | $9.99 | 94 59% | 2.8k | $28k (exactly $28,172) | Mystic Sin Creations | |
 | Saviour of the Wasteland | $9.99 | 84 78% | 2.5k | $25k (exactly $25,175) | PTGames | |
 | Giggle Night: Trixie's Trial | · EA | $19.99 | 16 81% | 480 | $9.6k (exactly $9,595) | Anaximanes Entertainment |
 | Only Out | $4.99 | 40 95% | 1.2k | $6.0k (exactly $5,988) | Shark Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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