Games › Programming › Programming + Detective
Should I ship a Detective Programming game?
Programming + Detective
Only 13 developers shipped a Detective Programming game 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, HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator, 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: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×2.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $780; 1 in 20 cleared $470k, ×1005 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 15 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $779 (exactly $779) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) |
| Top 25% | $11k (exactly $10,793) |
| Top 5% | $478k (exactly $477,589) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 28 |
| Announced | 15 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 85% on the market, supply 125% 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.
- Programming
- 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
- Programming
- Price point
- $11.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 1,884 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $780. 15 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Programming with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Base BuildingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + RogueliteFair
- + SandboxFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
- + SimulationFair
- + RobotsFair
- + CrimeFair
- + Sci-fiFair
- + FuturisticFair
Comparable games
Hacknet 2015 · $5.1M 
Grey Hack 2017 · EA · $1.1M 
Hacker Simulator 2021 · $922k 
HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator 2026 · $478k 
Anonymous Hacker Simulator 2024 · $444k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hacknet | older | $9.99 | 16,910 93% | 507k | $5.1M (exactly $5,067,927) | Team Fractal Alligator |
| | Grey Hack | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,801 90% | 54k | $1.1M (exactly $1,080,060) | Loading Home |
| | Hacker Simulator | older | $24.99 | 1,230 74% | 37k | $922k (exactly $922,131) | Save All Studio |
| | HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator | $16.99 | 937 88% | 28k | $478k (exactly $477,589) | HotBunny | |
| | Anonymous Hacker Simulator | older | $19.99 | 741 85% | 22k | $444k (exactly $444,378) | Sicarius |
 | Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division | $14.99 | 850 97% | 26k | $382k (exactly $382,245) | Thomas Hsu | |
 | Tron: Identity | older | $14.99 | 274 79% | 8.2k | $123k (exactly $123,218) | Bithell Games |
 | [Chilla's Art] The Ghost Train | 幽霊列車 | older | $2.99 | 627 78% | 19k | $56k (exactly $56,242) | Chilla's Art |
 | Cyber Warrior | $19.99 | 39 84% | 1.2k | $23k (exactly $23,388) | Dunke Games | |
 | How To Hack In? | · EA older | $12.99 | 41 87% | 1.2k | $16k (exactly $15,978) | Red Buffalo Interactive |
 | Signal Maze | $14.99 | 24 95% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | theArkitect | |
 | Cyber Academy | · EA | $11.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) | JinjaGames |
 | ESC (Electronics Security Company) | $9.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | Electronics Security Company | |
 | Pixel Forge | $9.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | MELOVITY | |
 | Regex Game | $2.99 | 12 66% | 360 | $1.1k (exactly $1,076) | ZeroBitCode | |
 | Agents! Please? | $4.04 | 7 100% | 210 | $848 (exactly $848) | KIB Games | |
 | SYSCALL: RING ZERO | $12.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $779 (exactly $779) | Chilling Moose Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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