Games › Cooking › Cooking + Visual Novel
Should I ship a Visual Novel Cooking game?
Cooking + Visual Novel
Of 54 developers who shipped a Visual Novel Cooking 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.. 72 more are announced, ×2.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.3k, ×13 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $980; 1 in 20 cleared $330k, ×714 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 72 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $980 (exactly $980) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.3k (exactly $6,267) |
| Top 25% | $54k (exactly $53,514) |
| Top 5% | $339k (exactly $338,972) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 54 |
| Released games | 108 |
| Announced | 72 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 15%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Cooking
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Cooking, Visual Novel; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Simulation, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Anime, Cute, Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $18.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 7,932 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $980. 6 in 10 of the 29 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 72 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Cooking with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + DogsFair
- + Turn-Based CombatFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LogicFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + PuzzleFair
- + Artificial IntelligencePoor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
Comparable games
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty 2024 · $15M 
Kaiju Princess 2 2024 · $1.7M 
Venba 2023 · $1.1M 
Kemono Teatime 2025 · $630k 
Witchy Life Story 2022 · $579k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty | older | $9.99 | 49,765 94% | 1.5M | $15M (exactly $14,914,570) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) |
| | Kaiju Princess 2 | $17.99 | 3,107 96% | 93k | $1.7M (exactly $1,676,848) | PantyParrot | |
| | Venba | older | $14.99 | 2,393 93% | 72k | $1.1M (exactly $1,076,132) | Visai Games |
| | Kemono Teatime | $12.99 | 1,617 95% | 49k | $630k (exactly $630,145) | Studio Lalala, Kotoneiro, WHO YOU | |
| | Witchy Life Story | older | $19.99 | 965 80% | 29k | $579k (exactly $578,710) | Sundew Studios |
 | Cooking Companions | older | $14.99 | 1,081 93% | 32k | $486k (exactly $486,126) | Deer Dream Studios |
 | Maid Cafe on Electric Street | $18.99 | 595 82% | 18k | $339k (exactly $338,972) | Adventurer's Tavern | |
 | Pixel Cafe | older | $12.99 | 833 91% | 25k | $325k (exactly $324,620) | Baltoro Games |
 | GIRLS MADE PUDDING | $9.99 | 866 95% | 26k | $260k (exactly $259,540) | Kazuhide Oka | |
 | Chihiro Himukai Always Walks Away | older | $19.99 | 320 96% | 9.6k | $192k (exactly $191,904) | SMILE |
 | Waning Flowers of a World Eternal - The Rainbow Appears After Flowering Rain | $19.99 | 297 96% | 8.9k | $178k (exactly $178,111) | SWEET&TEA | |
 | Midori no Kaori | $9.99 | 464 94% | 14k | $139k (exactly $139,061) | TheLaba | |
 | Coffee & Boobs | $7.99 | 463 74% | 14k | $111k (exactly $110,981) | TopHouse Studio | |
 | High Times | $19.99 | 163 90% | 4.9k | $98k (exactly $97,751) | Yangyang Mobile | |
 | Kitchen Sync: Aloha! | $19.99 | 159 99% | 4.8k | $95k (exactly $95,352) | Lemonpepper Games | |
 | Anime City | · EA | $14.99 | 201 72% | 6.0k | $90k (exactly $90,390) | Shoujo City Developer |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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