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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Escape Room game?
Escape Room + Interactive Fiction
Only 13 developers shipped an Interactive Fiction Escape Room 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, Amanda the Adventurer 3, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×23 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $200k, ×1760 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 17 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) |
| Top 25% | $8.1k (exactly $8,092) |
| Top 5% | $209k (exactly $209,490) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 46 |
| Announced | 17 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Escape Room
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Escape Room, Interactive Fiction; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Point & Click
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 1,228 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 17 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Escape Room with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SimulationStrong odds
- + Online Co-OpFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + Choices MatterFair
- + SupernaturalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + MysteryFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + HorrorFair
- + Multiple EndingsFair
- + AdventureFair
Comparable games
Amanda the Adventurer 3 2025 · $209k 
Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes Collector's Edition 2015 · $170k 
Tested on Humans: Escape Room 2021 · $130k 
Between Time: Escape Room 2021 · $98k 
A Vampyre Story 2014 · $77k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Amanda the Adventurer 3 | $9.99 | 699 86% | 21k | $209k (exactly $209,490) | MANGLEDmaw Games | |
| | Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes Collector's Edition | older | $14.99 | 378 91% | 11k | $170k (exactly $169,987) | 8Floor |
| | Tested on Humans: Escape Room | older | $9.99 | 434 87% | 13k | $130k (exactly $130,070) | mc2games |
| | Between Time: Escape Room | older | $9.99 | 326 80% | 9.8k | $98k (exactly $97,702) | mc2games |
| | A Vampyre Story | older | $9.99 | 258 75% | 7.7k | $77k (exactly $77,323) | Autumn Moon Entertainment, Jordan Freem… (Autumn Moon Entertainment, Jordan Freeman Group) |
 | Pyramids and Aliens: Escape Room | $12.99 | 191 81% | 5.7k | $74k (exactly $74,433) | mc2games | |
 | Mystic Academy: Escape Room | older | $10.99 | 224 75% | 6.7k | $74k (exactly $73,853) | mc2games |
 | Regular Factory: Escape Room | older | $9.99 | 210 91% | 6.3k | $63k (exactly $62,937) | mc2games |
 | 60 Minutes to Extinction: Escape Room | $7.99 | 153 82% | 4.6k | $37k (exactly $36,674) | mc2games | |
 | Retropolis 2: Never Say Goodbye | older | $24.99 | 42 92% | 1.3k | $31k (exactly $31,487) | Peanut Button |
 | Forgotten Hill: The Wardrobe | $4.99 | 62 72% | 1.9k | $9.3k (exactly $9,281) | FM Studio | |
 | The Island - Escape Room | $9.99 | 27 85% | 810 | $8.1k (exactly $8,092) | Flat Cat Games | |
 | The Neighbor - Escape Room | $7.99 | 24 79% | 720 | $5.8k (exactly $5,753) | B Rain Logic Labs | |
 | Escape Tales: The Awakening | $7.99 | 17 94% | 510 | $4.1k (exactly $4,075) | Bluekey Games | |
 | Atlas Protocol - Escape Room | $10.99 | 12 33% | 360 | $4.0k (exactly $3,956) | B Rain Logic Labs | |
 | Stuck in the Present | $6.99 | 13 69% | 390 | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) | Dusk Wave Arts LLC | |
 | Holy Crap! I'm Out of Paper! : The In-Law Survival Guide | $2.99 | 30 96% | 900 | $2.7k (exactly $2,691) | EXPECTACLE |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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