Games › Political Sim › Political Sim + Detective
Should I ship a Detective Political Sim?
Political Sim + Detective
Only 10 developers shipped a Detective Political Sim 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, The Darkest Files, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 15 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $9.9k, ×21 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $360. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 15 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $9.9k (exactly $9,890) |
| Top 25% | $136k (exactly $136,064) |
| Top 5% | $401k (exactly $400,600) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 10 |
| Released games | 25 |
| Announced | 15 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 300% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Political Sim
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Detective
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Political Sim
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 7 games average 87% positive over 1,689 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 15 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Political Sim with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Board GameFair
- + TabletopFair
- + CombatPoor odds
- + Sci-fiPoor odds
- + FuturisticPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + Cold WarPoor odds
- + BuildingPoor odds
- + SpacePoor odds
Comparable games
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You 2016 · $2.7M 
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength 2018 · $451k 
The Darkest Files 2025 · $401k 
Lightracer: For Judge 2025 · $138k 
Security 51 2026 · $136k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You | older | $9.99 | 8,936 90% | 268k | $2.7M (exactly $2,678,119) | Osmotic Studios |
| | Orwell: Ignorance is Strength | older | $9.99 | 1,506 77% | 45k | $451k (exactly $451,348) | Osmotic Studios |
| | The Darkest Files | $19.99 | 668 95% | 20k | $401k (exactly $400,600) | Paintbucket Games | |
| | Lightracer: For Judge | $9.99 | 462 92% | 14k | $138k (exactly $138,461) | Smartmelon Games | |
| | Security 51 | $9.99 | 454 71% | 14k | $136k (exactly $136,064) | Alawar | |
 | Interrogation: You will be deceived | older | $12.99 | 321 77% | 9.6k | $125k (exactly $125,094) | Critique Gaming |
 | Justice.exe | · EA older | $11.99 | 76 57% | 2.3k | $27k (exactly $27,337) | Late Game Clutch |
 | What Awaits, Aleksey? | $15.99 | 51 86% | 1.5k | $24k (exactly $24,465) | JKBC | |
 | City Eye | older | $9.99 | 73 32% | 2.2k | $22k (exactly $21,878) | · |
 | The Divine Deception | older | $14.99 | 38 86% | 1.1k | $17k (exactly $17,089) | Themisian |
 | Miss Peacock | $9.99 | 33 96% | 990 | $9.9k (exactly $9,890) | Otter Club | |
 | Black Border 2 | $1.99 | 19 63% | 570 | $1.1k (exactly $1,134) | Bitzooma | |
 | 墨缇斯：霾影季度 | $5.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $359 (exactly $359) | 青礼社Bendetizoin | |
 | Police Chief Simulator | $19.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Perfect Circle Team S.A. | |
 | Duty Guvnor | $8.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Articulable LLC | |
 | Adverse Action | · EA | $12.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Quiet Machines |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.