Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Detective
Should I ship a Detective Time Manipulation game?
Time Manipulation + Detective
Only 16 developers shipped a Detective Time Manipulation 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, The Posthumous Investigation, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 32 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $6.5k, ×14 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $330k, ×699 the market median. Revenue is up 140% on the market; 32 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) |
|---|---|
| Median | $6.5k (exactly $6,473) |
| Top 25% | $98k (exactly $98,351) |
| Top 5% | $332k (exactly $332,234) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 43 |
| Announced | 32 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 up 140% on the market, supply 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Time Manipulation
- 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
- Time Manipulation
- Price point
- $8.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 2,477 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 7 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 32 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Time Manipulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DemonsFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + ModernFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
- + NoirPoor odds
- + RPGPoor odds
Comparable games
Nobody Wants to Die 2024 · $4.4M 
The Silent Age 2015 · $1.8M 
The Sexy Brutale 2017 · $1.7M 
NUTS 2021 · $663k 
Lucifer Within Us 2020 · $381k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nobody Wants to Die | older | $24.99 | 5,818 83% | 175k | $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) | Critical Hit Games |
| | The Silent Age | older | $9.99 | 5,966 93% | 179k | $1.8M (exactly $1,788,010) | House On Fire |
| | The Sexy Brutale | older | $19.99 | 2,895 91% | 87k | $1.7M (exactly $1,736,131) | Cavalier Game Studios, Tequila Works |
| | NUTS | older | $24.99 | 884 88% | 27k | $663k (exactly $662,735) | Joon, Pol, Muutsch, Char & Torfi |
| | Lucifer Within Us | older | $19.99 | 635 73% | 19k | $381k (exactly $380,809) | Kitfox Games |
 | The Posthumous Investigation | $19.99 | 554 94% | 17k | $332k (exactly $332,234) | Mother Gaia Studio | |
 | Dinocop | $14.99 | 737 96% | 22k | $331k (exactly $331,429) | Pieces Games | |
 | Eternal Threads | older | $19.99 | 543 87% | 16k | $326k (exactly $325,637) | Cosmonaut Studios |
 | Kill The Shadow | $16.99 | 447 86% | 13k | $228k (exactly $227,836) | Shadowlight | |
 | Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo: Closure Edition | $19.99 | 164 99% | 4.9k | $98k (exactly $98,351) | Galla | |
 | Super Drift Blade | $6.99 | 351 94% | 11k | $74k (exactly $73,605) | Liujiajun | |
 | Hank: Drowning On Dry Land | $2.99 | 140 95% | 4.2k | $13k (exactly $12,558) | My Next Games | |
 | Who Summoned It? | $9.99 | 29 96% | 870 | $8.7k (exactly $8,691) | Crooked Foot | |
 | Mysteries of Perception | $8.99 | 24 87% | 720 | $6.5k (exactly $6,473) | 50 Rats Games | |
 | Forgotten 23 | $12.99 | 14 92% | 420 | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) | KovalGames | |
 | No.13813 | $5.99 | 17 88% | 510 | $3.1k (exactly $3,055) | Typebits |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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