Should I ship an FMV RPG?
RPG + FMV
Of 169 developers who shipped an FMV RPG 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.. 144 more are announced.
Verdict: strong odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $54k, ×85 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 7 in 10 cleared $5.3k. Revenue is up 110% on the market; 144 games are announced against 96 developers who shipped in the last year, ×1.5 per shipper.
| Bottom 30% | $5.4k (exactly $5,394) |
|---|---|
| Median | $54k (exactly $53,646) |
| Top 25% | $166k (exactly $165,960) |
| Top 5% | $815k (exactly $814,884) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 169 |
| Released games | 333 |
| Announced | 144 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 110% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 3%, 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
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- RPG, FMV; 9 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Interactive Fiction, Multiple Endings, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Cinematic, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 91,812 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $5.4k. 3 in 10 of the 97 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 144 games are announced against 96 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
RPG with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + IdlerFair
- + Boss RushFair
- + SportsFair
- + Combat RacingFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + SamuraiPoor odds
- + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds
- + 4XPoor odds
- + MinigamesPoor odds
- + Real-Time with PausePoor odds
- + Turn-BasedPoor odds
Comparable games
Love Is All Around 2023 · $11M 
Revenge on gold diggers 2025 · $9.8M 
Mirror 2: Project X 2022 · EA · $6.6M 
Road to Empress Ⅱ 2026 · $4.2M 
The Operator 2024 · $3.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Love Is All Around | older | $9.99 | 36,203 93% | 1.1M | $11M (exactly $10,850,039) | intiny |
| | Revenge on gold diggers | $6.99 | 46,610 80% | 1.4M | $9.8M (exactly $9,774,117) | 前方工作室 | |
| | Mirror 2: Project X | · EA older | $1.99 | 111,251 24% | 3.3M | $6.6M (exactly $6,641,685) | KAGAMI Ⅱ WORKs |
| | Road to Empress Ⅱ | $18.00 | 7,773 80% | 233k | $4.2M (exactly $4,197,420) | New One Studio | |
| | The Operator | older | $13.99 | 8,515 91% | 255k | $3.6M (exactly $3,573,746) | Bureau 81 |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof | $19.99 | 5,881 91% | 176k | $3.5M (exactly $3,526,836) | Storytaco | |
 | Road to Empress I | $8.49 | 11,829 86% | 355k | $3.0M (exactly $3,012,846) | New One Studio | |
 | Mandate Of Heaven | $14.99 | 5,446 91% | 163k | $2.4M (exactly $2,449,066) | 木焱工作室 | |
 | Breakout 13 | older | $9.99 | 6,899 87% | 207k | $2.1M (exactly $2,067,630) | ALT Lab |
 | Peeping Dorm Manager | older | $10.99 | 6,206 92% | 186k | $2.0M (exactly $2,046,118) | HornyDoge |
 | The Three Kingdoms: Rebirth | $19.99 | 2,564 91% | 77k | $1.5M (exactly $1,537,631) | 玛奇阿朵互娱科技, 山与海工作室 | |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof season2 | $22.99 | 2,149 96% | 64k | $1.5M (exactly $1,482,165) | Storytaco | |
 | Shao Song I | $14.99 | 2,671 81% | 80k | $1.2M (exactly $1,201,149) | 互动之星, 猫眼娱乐 | |
 | Love is All Around 2 | $9.99 | 3,749 83% | 112k | $1.1M (exactly $1,123,575) | intiny | |
 | 美女，请别影响我成仙 | $10.99 | 3,140 93% | 94k | $1.0M (exactly $1,035,258) | 蒸汽满满工作室 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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