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Should I ship a Fantasy Word Game?
Word Game + Fantasy
Of 77 developers who shipped a Fantasy Word 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, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×2.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $110k, ×236 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 108 games are announced against 49 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) |
| Top 25% | $5.1k (exactly $5,076) |
| Top 5% | $112k (exactly $112,125) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 77 |
| Released games | 243 |
| Announced | 108 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $1.99 |
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 65% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Word Game; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Adventure, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $1.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $1.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 8,654 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 9 in 10 of the 57 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 108 games are announced against 49 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Word Game with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SurvivalFair
- + TacticalFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LootFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventureFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Procedural GenerationFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + NatureFair
Comparable games
Cryptmaster 2024 · $1.3M 
灾厄黑龙与谎言公主 2025 · $1.1M 
7 Days to End with You 2022 · $797k 
Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk 2019 · $540k 
The Expression Amrilato 2019 · $511k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Cryptmaster | older | $24.99 | 1,671 94% | 50k | $1.3M (exactly $1,252,749) | Paul Hart, Lee Williams, Akupara Games |
| | 灾厄黑龙与谎言公主 | $9.99 | 3,682 90% | 110k | $1.1M (exactly $1,103,495) | 莓夜工作室 | |
| | 7 Days to End with You | older | $7.99 | 3,327 87% | 100k | $797k (exactly $797,482) | Lizardry |
| | Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk | older | $29.99 | 600 84% | 18k | $540k (exactly $539,820) | IDEA FACTORY |
| | The Expression Amrilato | older | $24.99 | 682 97% | 20k | $511k (exactly $511,295) | SukeraSparo |
 | xiuzhen idle | $5.99 | 2,313 79% | 69k | $416k (exactly $415,646) | 游戏养家工作室 | |
 | Hana no No ni Saku Utakata no | older | $29.99 | 415 93% | 12k | $373k (exactly $373,376) | Applique |
 | Lost Words: Beyond the Page | older | $14.99 | 637 94% | 19k | $286k (exactly $286,459) | Sketchbook Developments, Fourth State,… (Sketchbook Developments, Fourth State, Sketchbook Games) |
 | NICE TO MEET YOU, AGAIN | $24.99 | 334 97% | 10k | $250k (exactly $250,400) | Purple Software | |
 | Daily life with my succubus boss | older | $9.99 | 716 88% | 21k | $215k (exactly $214,585) | 樹懶叫工作室, HEIJUN, Maker製造機 |
 | Our Brief Eternity | $4.99 | 749 99% | 22k | $112k (exactly $112,125) | 土豆花制作组 | |
 | TOUQI | $4.99 | 462 89% | 14k | $69k (exactly $69,161) | 橙光游戏 | |
 | The Apothecary of Trubiz | $3.99 | 536 94% | 16k | $64k (exactly $64,159) | kinjo, Image Labo | |
 | The Vampire's Bride: A bride who gets married to vampdoll | $16.99 | 90 93% | 2.7k | $46k (exactly $45,873) | Waterfall | |
 | The Losers Team | $3.00 | 291 82% | 8.7k | $26k (exactly $26,190) | Milton Game | |
 | Tomb of the Bloodletter | $7.99 | 100 88% | 3.0k | $24k (exactly $23,970) | Ethan's Secretions | |
 | 无名者 | $7.99 | 97 95% | 2.9k | $23k (exactly $23,251) | Origincourtyard世界庭院, 三七洛九 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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