Games › Dating Sim › Dating Sim + Detective
Should I ship a Detective Dating Sim?
Dating Sim + Detective
Of 56 developers who shipped a Detective 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.. 78 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.0k, ×13 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $320k, ×684 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 78 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.1k (exactly $1,079) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.0k (exactly $5,990) |
| Top 25% | $38k (exactly $37,737) |
| Top 5% | $325k (exactly $325,084) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 56 |
| Released games | 136 |
| Announced | 78 |
| 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 60% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dating Sim
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- Detective
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Dating Sim; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Multiple Endings, RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Emotional
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 7,853 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 5 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 78 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 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 
Persona 4 Golden 2020 · $43M 
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony 2017 · $26M 
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair 2016 · $19M 
Raging Loop 2017 · $9.5M | 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 |
| | Persona 4 Golden | older | $19.99 | 71,306 97% | 2.1M | $43M (exactly $42,762,208) | ATLUS |
| | Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony | older | $39.99 | 21,978 82% | 659k | $26M (exactly $26,367,007) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
| | Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair | older | $19.99 | 30,961 95% | 929k | $19M (exactly $18,567,312) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction G… (Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd., Abstraction Games) |
| | Raging Loop | older | $29.99 | 10,568 95% | 317k | $9.5M (exactly $9,508,030) | KEMCO |
 | Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll | older | $9.99 | 3,726 81% | 112k | $1.1M (exactly $1,116,682) | Soviet Games |
 | The Genesis Order | older | $14.99 | 1,862 87% | 56k | $837k (exactly $837,341) | NLT Media |
 | 노베나 디아볼로스 | older | $18.99 | 1,462 93% | 44k | $833k (exactly $832,901) | H5DEV Games |
 | Game of Fate 2: A Century's Promise | $15.99 | 1,054 78% | 32k | $506k (exactly $505,604) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | FLAM EVAW | $9.99 | 1,378 95% | 41k | $413k (exactly $412,987) | 北京万合瑞晟文化传媒有限公司 | |
 | Game Of Fate 3：Clash Of Crowns | $16.79 | 734 85% | 22k | $370k (exactly $369,716) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Money for Girls: Amortized | $15.00 | 795 98% | 24k | $358k (exactly $357,750) | Porpentine | |
 | Game of Fate: Chasing Through Time | $10.99 | 986 88% | 30k | $325k (exactly $325,084) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | 我的恋爱逃生攻略 Love to Live | $9.99 | 864 85% | 26k | $259k (exactly $258,941) | 番茄炖肉制作组 | |
 | Cellveillance | $15.99 | 531 85% | 16k | $255k (exactly $254,721) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | MeteoriteFall | $12.99 | 651 78% | 20k | $254k (exactly $253,695) | ST studio | |
 | PatriotMemoirs | $15.58 | 528 83% | 16k | $247k (exactly $246,787) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Taboo University Book One | $14.99 | 332 79% | 10k | $149k (exactly $149,300) | ViNovella Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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