Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Dystopian
Should I ship a Dystopian Time Manipulation game?
Time Manipulation + Dystopian
Only 13 developers shipped a Dystopian 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, Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 34 more are announced, ×3.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.9k, ×10 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $750; 1 in 20 cleared $320k, ×688 the market median. Revenue is up 295% on the market; 34 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $750 (exactly $750) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.9k (exactly $4,940) |
| Top 25% | $15k (exactly $15,290) |
| Top 5% | $327k (exactly $326,958) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 36 |
| Announced | 34 |
| 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 up 295% on the market, supply 125% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, 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
- Dystopian
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Time Manipulation
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 2,288 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $750. All of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.8 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
- + DetectivePoor odds
- + NoirPoor odds
Comparable games
SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE 2020 · $6.9M 
Nobody Wants to Die 2024 · $4.4M 
Lucifer Within Us 2020 · $381k 
Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum 2025 · $327k 
Ascend to ZERO 2026 · $312k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE | older | $24.99 | 9,247 85% | 277k | $6.9M (exactly $6,932,476) | SUPERHOT Team |
| | Nobody Wants to Die | older | $24.99 | 5,818 83% | 175k | $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) | Critical Hit Games |
| | Lucifer Within Us | older | $19.99 | 635 73% | 19k | $381k (exactly $380,809) | Kitfox Games |
| | Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum | $12.99 | 839 98% | 25k | $327k (exactly $326,958) | nodayshalleraseyou | |
| | Ascend to ZERO | $11.99 | 867 82% | 26k | $312k (exactly $311,860) | Flyway Games, Inc. | |
 | MotionRec | $9.99 | 430 99% | 13k | $129k (exactly $128,871) | HANDSUM | |
 | Orten Was The Case | older | $14.99 | 125 94% | 3.8k | $56k (exactly $56,212) | Woodhill Interactive |
 | Time Recoil | older | $13.99 | 65 76% | 2.0k | $27k (exactly $27,280) | 10tons Ltd |
 | Mai: Child of Ages | $14.99 | 34 88% | 1.0k | $15k (exactly $15,290) | Chubby Pixel | |
 | Get Up In The Night | $6.99 | 52 98% | 1.6k | $11k (exactly $10,904) | GUITN Studio | |
 | Mysteries of Perception | $8.99 | 24 87% | 720 | $6.5k (exactly $6,473) | 50 Rats Games | |
 | Anomaly Protocol | · EA | $4.99 | 33 72% | 990 | $4.9k (exactly $4,940) | Oriland |
 | Spymaster | · EA | $11.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $2.2k (exactly $2,158) | InnerspaceVR |
 | Void Jump VR | $14.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $899 (exactly $899) | LemmoLab | |
 | Chrono Weaver | $24.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $750 (exactly $750) | Ivory Crow Games LLC |
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.