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Should I ship a Dynamic Narration Visual Novel?
Dynamic Narration + Visual Novel
Of 76 developers who shipped a Dynamic Narration 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.. 150 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×3.2 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×325 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 150 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $419 (exactly $419) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) |
| Top 25% | $5.8k (exactly $5,838) |
| Top 5% | $154k (exactly $154,341) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 76 |
| Released games | 210 |
| Announced | 150 |
| 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 down 60% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, 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
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Dynamic Narration, Visual Novel; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Multiple Endings, Choose Your Own Adventure
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Emotional, Comedy
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 8,967 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 9 in 10 of the 38 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 150 games are announced against 46 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 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 
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy 2019 · $32M 
BURIED STARS 2021 · $2.5M 
Mandate Of Heaven 2025 · $2.4M 
Corruption Town 2024 · EA · $446k | 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 |
| | Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy | older | $29.99 | 35,628 97% | 1.1M | $32M (exactly $32,054,512) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| | 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 | |
| | 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 |
 | Summer's Gone - Season 1 | older | $14.99 | 702 93% | 21k | $316k (exactly $315,689) | OceanAVN |
 | My Bimbo Dream | $14.99 | 647 77% | 19k | $291k (exactly $290,956) | MBD | |
 | Invincible Presents: Atom Eve | older | $9.99 | 550 96% | 17k | $165k (exactly $164,835) | Terrible Posture Games |
 | Hymer 2000 | $4.99 | 1,031 89% | 31k | $154k (exactly $154,341) | doBell | |
 | Ballshit | $7.99 | 228 95% | 6.8k | $55k (exactly $54,652) | 疯兔游戏（FUNTOO Studio）, Liquid Meow | |
 | Massage With Benefits | $9.99 | 175 84% | 5.3k | $52k (exactly $52,448) | pasunna | |
 | Throne of Monsters 怪物的王座 | $12.99 | 130 92% | 3.9k | $51k (exactly $50,661) | 雏形游戏 | |
 | The Test: Reimagined | $9.99 | 134 82% | 4.0k | $40k (exactly $40,160) | Randumb Studios | |
 | Omen Exitio: Hunger | $9.99 | 117 88% | 3.5k | $35k (exactly $35,065) | Tiny Bull Studios | |
 | Mythos, Book One | $12.99 | 67 83% | 2.0k | $26k (exactly $26,110) | Nine of Swords Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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