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Should I ship a Dating Sim Visual Novel?
Dating Sim + Visual Novel
Of 1,071 developers who shipped a Dating Sim Visual Novel 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.. 1,341 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $8.0k, ×67 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.7k; 1 in 20 cleared $380k, ×3237 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 1,341 games are announced against 636 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.7k (exactly $1,679) |
|---|---|
| Median | $8.0k (exactly $7,969) |
| Top 25% | $50k (exactly $50,350) |
| Top 5% | $385k (exactly $385,198) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 1,071 |
| Released games | 4,127 |
| Announced | 1,341 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, 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
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Dating Sim, Visual Novel; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choices Matter, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Anime, Emotional
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 108,107 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.7k. 7 in 10 of the 775 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 1,341 games are announced against 636 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dating Sim with a different second tag, 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 4 Golden 2020 · $43M 
Senren＊Banka 2020 · $35M 
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony 2017 · $26M 
STEINS;GATE 2016 · $23M 
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair 2016 · $19M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Persona 4 Golden | older | $19.99 | 71,306 97% | 2.1M | $43M (exactly $42,762,208) | ATLUS |
| | Senren＊Banka | older | $34.99 | 33,721 98% | 1.0M | $35M (exactly $35,396,934) | YUZUSOFT |
| | Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony | older | $39.99 | 21,978 82% | 659k | $26M (exactly $26,367,007) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
| | STEINS;GATE | older | $29.99 | 25,289 97% | 759k | $23M (exactly $22,752,513) | MAGES. Inc. |
| | 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) |
 | Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut | older | $17.99 | 31,885 96% | 957k | $17M (exactly $17,208,334) | Black Tabby Games |
 | 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) |
 | Volcano Princess | older | $10.99 | 45,019 97% | 1.4M | $15M (exactly $14,842,764) | 养蛋人 Egg Hatcher |
 | Summer Memories | older | $19.99 | 24,113 92% | 723k | $14M (exactly $14,460,566) | Dojin Otome |
 | Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! | older | $14.99 | 30,148 97% | 904k | $14M (exactly $13,557,556) | Team Salvato |
 | Revenge on gold diggers | $6.99 | 46,610 80% | 1.4M | $9.8M (exactly $9,774,117) | 前方工作室 | |
 | Date Everything! | $29.99 | 6,629 93% | 199k | $6.0M (exactly $5,964,111) | Sassy Chap Games | |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof | $19.99 | 5,881 91% | 176k | $3.5M (exactly $3,526,836) | Storytaco | |
 | Magical Princess | $14.99 | 7,636 96% | 229k | $3.4M (exactly $3,433,909) | Neotro Inc., MAGI Inc. | |
 | Road to Empress I | $8.49 | 11,829 86% | 355k | $3.0M (exactly $3,012,846) | New One Studio | |
 | The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall | $11.99 | 8,227 58% | 247k | $3.0M (exactly $2,959,252) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) | |
 | School Days | $14.99 | 6,023 77% | 181k | $2.7M (exactly $2,708,543) | 白雨工作室 | |
 | Sweet Home | $7.99 | 9,910 94% | 297k | $2.4M (exactly $2,375,427) | 开心茶房 | |
 | FEMBOY FUTA HOUSE | $14.99 | 4,131 89% | 124k | $1.9M (exactly $1,857,711) | IT'S A TRAP | |
 | Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE | $49.99 | 1,231 91% | 37k | $1.8M (exactly $1,846,131) | VISUAL ARTS/Key |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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