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Should I ship a Co-op Interactive Fiction?
Co-op + Interactive Fiction
Only 12 developers shipped a Co-op Interactive Fiction 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, Shift At Midnight, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced, ×4.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×0.5 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300. 24 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.8 per shipper, while revenue is flat on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $27k (exactly $26,775) |
| Top 5% | $3.0M (exactly $3,041,056) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 12 |
| Released games | 39 |
| Announced | 24 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 flat on the market, supply 30% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Co-op
- effort 7 / 10 · low · co-op on Steam means online sessions and drop-in sync
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Co-op, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $5.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 11,282 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Co-op with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SuperheroFair
- + Boomer ShooterFair
- + GamblingFair
- + NinjaFair
- + TypingLong shot
- + Word GameLong shot
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + World War IIPoor odds
- + AutomationPoor odds
- + TransportationPoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
Comparable games
Hobo: Tough Life 2021 · $7.8M 
Shift At Midnight 2026 · $3.0M 
King Of The Castle 2023 · $420k 
The Yawhg 2014 · $339k 
Eyes: The Horror Game 2024 · $138k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hobo: Tough Life | older | $29.99 | 8,679 84% | 260k | $7.8M (exactly $7,808,496) | Perun Creative |
| | Shift At Midnight | $9.99 | 10,147 88% | 304k | $3.0M (exactly $3,041,056) | Bun Muen | |
| | King Of The Castle | older | $9.99 | 1,403 90% | 42k | $420k (exactly $420,479) | Tributary Games |
| | The Yawhg | older | $9.99 | 1,131 84% | 34k | $339k (exactly $338,961) | Damian Sommer, Emily Carroll |
| | Eyes: The Horror Game | older | $4.99 | 923 90% | 28k | $138k (exactly $138,173) | Fearless Games |
 | Chained in the Backrooms | · EA | $2.99 | 933 68% | 28k | $84k (exactly $83,690) | Task+ Studios |
 | Princess Farmer | older | $14.99 | 125 96% | 3.8k | $56k (exactly $56,212) | Samobee Games |
 | World Wide Hack | · EA older | $16.99 | 69 60% | 2.1k | $35k (exactly $35,169) | Lotus Innovations |
 | Antioch: Scarlet Bay | older | $4.99 | 220 78% | 6.6k | $33k (exactly $32,934) | Midnight Mood Studio |
 | Mad Experiments: Escape Room 2 | older | $12.99 | 69 65% | 2.1k | $27k (exactly $26,889) | PlayTogether Studio |
 | EXPEDITION TO THE BACKROOMS | · EA | $5.99 | 149 65% | 4.5k | $27k (exactly $26,775) | 1_Cutter_1 |
 | Fofumia | $15.99 | 21 85% | 630 | $10k (exactly $10,074) | Actoon Studio | |
 | Fizz Quiz | $14.99 | 20 50% | 600 | $9.0k (exactly $8,994) | Moon | |
 | The Storyteller | $5.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $719 (exactly $719) | Ferrari Dev | |
 | ASTROSMASH 1981 | $4.99 | 4 0% | 120 | $599 (exactly $599) | BBG Entertainment GmbH | |
 | Beyond the Soil: Farming & Tales | $12.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $390 (exactly $390) | Mavi Game Lab | |
 | Aeonic | $4.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | dev | |
 | Tales In Text: Multiplayer Immersive Adventures | $5.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $180 (exactly $180) | Synthetic Mind Corp. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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