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Should I ship a Dynamic Narration Interactive Fiction?
Dynamic Narration + Interactive Fiction
Of 87 developers who shipped a Dynamic Narration Interactive Fiction 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.. 193 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $990, ×2.1 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×334 the market median. Revenue is up 70% on the market; 193 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $358 (exactly $358) |
|---|---|
| Median | $987 (exactly $987) |
| Top 25% | $5.2k (exactly $5,240) |
| Top 5% | $159k (exactly $158,841) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 87 |
| Released games | 242 |
| Announced | 193 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 70% on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dynamic Narration
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Dynamic Narration, Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Multiple Endings, Adventure
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Text-Based, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 16,260 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 49 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 193 games are announced against 52 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dynamic Narration with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SportsStrong odds
- + IncrementalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ModernFair
- + TacticalFair
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + RoguelikePoor odds
- + RoguelitePoor odds
- + Word GamePoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
Comparable games
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series 2020 · $55M 
Heavy Rain 2020 · $16M 
Road 96 🛣️ 2021 · $13M 
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage 2025 · $7.0M 
BURIED STARS 2021 · $2.5M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series | older | $49.99 | 36,594 96% | 1.1M | $55M (exactly $54,880,022) | Skybound Games |
| | Heavy Rain | older | $19.99 | 26,503 85% | 795k | $16M (exactly $15,893,849) | Quantic Dream |
| | Road 96 🛣️ | older | $19.96 | 22,118 91% | 664k | $13M (exactly $13,244,258) | Digixart |
| | Lost Records: Bloom & Rage | $39.99 | 5,873 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,045,838) | DON'T NOD | |
| | BURIED STARS | older | $39.99 | 2,117 83% | 64k | $2.5M (exactly $2,539,765) | LINE Games Corporation |
 | Mandate Of Heaven | $14.99 | 5,446 91% | 163k | $2.4M (exactly $2,449,066) | 木焱工作室 | |
 | Foretales | older | $19.99 | 779 87% | 23k | $467k (exactly $467,166) | Alkemi |
 | Corruption Town | · EA | $14.99 | 992 88% | 30k | $446k (exactly $446,102) | BoredBasmati |
 | Heading Out | older | $19.99 | 639 74% | 19k | $383k (exactly $383,208) | Serious Sim, Crunching Koalas |
 | Eternal Threads | older | $19.99 | 543 87% | 16k | $326k (exactly $325,637) | Cosmonaut Studios |
 | TR-49 | $6.99 | 1,197 94% | 36k | $251k (exactly $251,011) | inkle Ltd | |
 | Heaven Does Not Respond | $9.99 | 530 90% | 16k | $159k (exactly $158,841) | Rise Studios | |
 | Hymer 2000 | $4.99 | 1,031 89% | 31k | $154k (exactly $154,341) | doBell | |
 | Many Nights a Whisper | $2.99 | 699 94% | 21k | $63k (exactly $62,700) | Deconstructeam, Selkie Harbour | |
 | Ballshit | $7.99 | 228 95% | 6.8k | $55k (exactly $54,652) | 疯兔游戏（FUNTOO Studio）, Liquid Meow | |
 | Run TavernQuest | $12.99 | 134 93% | 4.0k | $52k (exactly $52,220) | Silicon Sundial | |
 | Throne of Monsters 怪物的王座 | $12.99 | 130 92% | 3.9k | $51k (exactly $50,661) | 雏形游戏 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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