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Should I ship a Mystery Escape Room game?
Escape Room + Mystery
Of 122 developers who shipped a Mystery Escape Room game 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.. 108 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×5.7 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $720. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 108 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $718 (exactly $718) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) |
| Top 25% | $18k (exactly $18,350) |
| Top 5% | $224k (exactly $224,288) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 122 |
| Released games | 370 |
| Announced | 108 |
| Effort | 3 / 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 down 20% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 9%, 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
- Mystery
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Escape Room; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Exploration
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 3D, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 35,254 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 8 in 10 of the 78 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 108 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Escape Room with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SimulationStrong odds
- + Online Co-OpFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + Choices MatterFair
- + SupernaturalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + HorrorFair
- + Multiple EndingsFair
- + AdventureFair
- + ExplorationFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Blue Prince | $29.99 | 17,498 85% | 525k | $16M (exactly $15,742,951) | Dogubomb | |
| | Escape Simulator | older | $19.99 | 16,496 94% | 495k | $9.9M (exactly $9,892,651) | Pine Studio |
| | We Were Here Forever | older | $17.99 | 16,256 90% | 488k | $8.8M (exactly $8,773,363) | Total Mayhem Games |
| | Zero Escape: The Nonary Games | older | $29.99 | 7,007 92% | 210k | $6.3M (exactly $6,304,198) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
| | We Were Here Together | older | $12.99 | 14,481 82% | 434k | $5.6M (exactly $5,643,246) | Total Mayhem Games |
| | The Room 4: Old Sins | older | $8.99 | 17,806 98% | 534k | $4.8M (exactly $4,802,278) | Fireproof Games |
| | The Room | older | $4.99 | 30,421 97% | 913k | $4.6M (exactly $4,554,024) | Fireproof Games |
| | The House of Da Vinci | older | $19.99 | 6,710 85% | 201k | $4.0M (exactly $4,023,987) | Blue Brain Games |
| | Agent A: A puzzle in disguise | older | $19.99 | 5,901 95% | 177k | $3.5M (exactly $3,538,830) | Yak & Co |
| | The Room Two | older | $4.99 | 21,056 97% | 632k | $3.2M (exactly $3,152,083) | Fireproof Games |
| | Escape Simulator 2 | $19.99 | 4,292 92% | 129k | $2.6M (exactly $2,573,912) | Pine Studio | |
| | Servant of the Lake | $7.99 | 7,120 98% | 214k | $1.7M (exactly $1,706,664) | Rusty Lake | |
| | Dreamcore | $17.99 | 1,879 89% | 56k | $1.0M (exactly $1,014,096) | Montraluz | |
| | Is this Game Trying to Kill Me? | $14.99 | 1,513 95% | 45k | $680k (exactly $680,396) | Stately Snail | |
| | The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition | $24.99 | 836 72% | 25k | $627k (exactly $626,749) | Blue Brain Games | |
| | Titanic Escape Simulator™ | $19.99 | 374 52% | 11k | $224k (exactly $224,288) | magicprostudio, Vintage Digital Revival | |
| | Parallel Experiment | $9.99 | 702 84% | 21k | $210k (exactly $210,389) | Eleven Puzzles | |
| | Amanda the Adventurer 3 | $9.99 | 699 86% | 21k | $209k (exactly $209,490) | MANGLEDmaw Games | |
| | Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 | $19.99 | 341 96% | 10k | $204k (exactly $204,498) | Strange Scaffold |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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