Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + Futuristic
Should I ship a Futuristic Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Futuristic
Of 105 developers who shipped a Futuristic Interactive Fiction 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.. 168 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×3.8 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $240k, ×521 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 168 games are announced against 55 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,794) |
| Top 25% | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) |
| Top 5% | $247k (exactly $247,460) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 105 |
| Released games | 306 |
| Announced | 168 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 25% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Futuristic
- 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
- Interactive Fiction; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Visual Novel, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 11,493 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 8 in 10 of the 63 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 168 games are announced against 55 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Interactive Fiction with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + VampiresFair
- + SportsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PiratesFair
- + DrivingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Board GameFair
- + SnowFair
- + BuildingFair
Comparable games
SCARLET NEXUS 2021 · $25M 
The Invincible 2023 · $9.0M 
Citizen Sleeper 2022 · $5.0M 
Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown 2026 · $4.4M 
AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative 2022 · $4.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | SCARLET NEXUS | older | $59.99 | 13,749 81% | 412k | $25M (exactly $24,744,075) | BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc. |
| | The Invincible | older | $29.99 | 10,055 87% | 302k | $9.0M (exactly $9,046,484) | Starward Industries |
| | Citizen Sleeper | older | $19.99 | 8,271 92% | 248k | $5.0M (exactly $4,960,119) | Jump Over The Age |
| | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
| | AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative | older | $39.99 | 3,571 86% | 107k | $4.3M (exactly $4,284,129) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
 | I Was a Teenage Exocolonist | older | $24.99 | 4,443 96% | 133k | $3.3M (exactly $3,330,917) | Northway Games |
 | Caravan SandWitch | older | $24.99 | 2,797 88% | 84k | $2.1M (exactly $2,096,911) | Studio Plane Toast |
 | Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector | $24.99 | 2,358 91% | 71k | $1.8M (exactly $1,767,793) | Jump Over The Age | |
 | Fort Solis | older | $24.99 | 2,300 69% | 69k | $1.7M (exactly $1,724,310) | Fallen Leaf, Black Drakkar Games |
 | Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure | older | $15.99 | 2,158 91% | 65k | $1.0M (exactly $1,035,193) | DigiTales Interactive |
 | No Sleep For Kaname Date - From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES | $39.99 | 835 79% | 25k | $1.0M (exactly $1,001,750) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
 | Old Skies | $19.99 | 969 93% | 29k | $581k (exactly $581,109) | Wadjet Eye Games | |
 | Sexbot | $14.99 | 723 86% | 22k | $325k (exactly $325,133) | Llamamann Games | |
 | Inquisitor’s Heart and Soul | $12.99 | 635 80% | 19k | $247k (exactly $247,460) | Whale Rock Games | |
 | ToHeart | $19.99 | 313 87% | 9.4k | $188k (exactly $187,706) | AQUAPLUS | |
 | QUIET DAN | $1.99 | 1,280 93% | 38k | $76k (exactly $76,416) | ВСЖ, ozon671games | |
 | Moves Of The Diamond Hand | · EA | $19.99 | 105 100% | 3.2k | $63k (exactly $62,968) | Cosmo D Studios |
 | Techno Banter | $17.99 | 113 91% | 3.4k | $61k (exactly $60,986) | Dexai Arts, Crunching Koalas |
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.