Games › Dating Sim › Dating Sim + Crime
Should I ship a Crime Dating Sim?
Dating Sim + Crime
Of 35 developers who shipped a Crime Dating Sim 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.. 58 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $8.7k, ×14 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $2.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $990k, ×1583 the market median. Revenue is up 210% on the market; 58 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $2.0k (exactly $2,030) |
|---|---|
| Median | $8.7k (exactly $8,691) |
| Top 25% | $91k (exactly $91,364) |
| Top 5% | $994k (exactly $994,425) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 35 |
| Released games | 91 |
| Announced | 58 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 up 210% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dating Sim
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- Crime
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Dating Sim; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Adventure, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Realistic, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 81% positive over 12,635 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $2.1k. 6 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 58 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dating Sim with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + WarStrong odds
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Souls-likeStrong odds
- + AliensStrong odds
- + PlatformerStrong odds
- + HistoricalFair
- + FPSFair
- + Post-apocalypticFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Action-AdventureFair
- + TacticalFair
Comparable games
Persona 5 Royal 2022 · $165M 
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties 2026 · $4.0M 
Yakuza 0 Director's Cut 2025 · $2.4M 
Peeping Dorm Manager 2023 · $2.0M 
BUSTAFELLOWS 2021 · $1.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Persona 5 Royal | older | $59.99 | 91,682 96% | 2.8M | $165M (exactly $165,000,095) | ATLUS |
| | Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties | $59.99 | 2,229 62% | 67k | $4.0M (exactly $4,011,531) | RGG Studio | |
| | Yakuza 0 Director's Cut | $49.99 | 1,628 80% | 49k | $2.4M (exactly $2,441,512) | RGG Studio | |
| | Peeping Dorm Manager | older | $10.99 | 6,206 92% | 186k | $2.0M (exactly $2,046,118) | HornyDoge |
| | BUSTAFELLOWS | older | $39.99 | 968 86% | 29k | $1.2M (exactly $1,161,310) | NIPPON CULTURAL BROADCASTING EXTEND INC. |
 | The Wife Next Door | $16.99 | 1,951 89% | 59k | $994k (exactly $994,425) | 雪山雞白郎, SnowGBL | |
 | Yakuza Kiwami | $19.99 | 1,334 82% | 40k | $800k (exactly $800,000) | RGG Studio | |
 | 彷徨之街 The Street of Adrift | older | $11.99 | 2,210 75% | 66k | $795k (exactly $794,937) | Caramel-Mocha Studio |
 | Yakuza Kiwami 2 | $19.99 | 1,135 82% | 34k | $681k (exactly $680,660) | RGG Studio | |
 | 1 to 1 humanoid edible toys | older | $7.99 | 2,420 92% | 73k | $580k (exactly $580,074) | 汉谟拉比炒面, 我的屁是香哒 |
 | Race of Life - Act 1 | $13.99 | 1,183 94% | 35k | $497k (exactly $496,505) | Underground Studio | |
 | BM General Hospital | $7.99 | 1,368 86% | 41k | $328k (exactly $327,910) | zzzgame | |
 | Refate: Echoes of Desire | $14.99 | 558 87% | 17k | $251k (exactly $250,933) | Terraflame Entertainment | |
 | Stiff Neck | $6.99 | 955 81% | 29k | $200k (exactly $200,264) | 伤官制作组 Team Uranian | |
 | Queen's Gamble | $12.99 | 294 61% | 8.8k | $115k (exactly $114,572) | Black Square Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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