Games › Word Game › Word Game + Futuristic
Should I ship a Futuristic Word Game?
Word Game + Futuristic
Only 15 developers shipped a Futuristic Word 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, Yixin, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 34 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $410 over 4, against a market of $480 for a 4 / 10 build. 11 developers shipped in the last year and 34 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $360 (exactly $360) |
| Top 25% | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) |
| Top 5% | $8.4k (exactly $8,432) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 15 |
| Released games | 55 |
| Announced | 34 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 95% on the market, supply 175% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 25%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Word Game
- effort 1 / 10 · high · dictionary logic and simple UI
- 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
- Word Game; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Dating Sim, Immersive Sim
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $6.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Emotional, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $6.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 71% positive over 328 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 8 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 34 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Rail of Möbius | older | $12.99 | 359 93% | 11k | $140k (exactly $139,902) | PHOSEPO |
| | 1bitHeart | older | $2.99 | 849 91% | 25k | $76k (exactly $76,155) | △○□× (Miwashiba) |
| | 場外人生 | · EA older | $2.99 | 315 90% | 9.5k | $28k (exactly $28,256) | YuruOwO |
| | 彗星战团 | older | $2.99 | 185 86% | 5.6k | $17k (exactly $16,594) | 星火工造 |
| | Paperback Adventures | · EA older | $14.99 | 27 92% | 810 | $12k (exactly $12,142) | Tim Fowers, Jeff Krause, Skye Larsen, A… (Tim Fowers, Jeff Krause, Skye Larsen, Alex Krause) |
| | Plan B from Outer Space: A Bavarian Odyssey | older | $12.49 | 31 90% | 930 | $12k (exactly $11,616) | RobotPumpkin Games |
| | Yixin | $2.99 | 94 73% | 2.8k | $8.4k (exactly $8,432) | 神風教主 (Master Kamikaze) | |
| | No Alien Dating Allowed! | $4.99 | 54 64% | 1.6k | $8.1k (exactly $8,084) | Peach Fox Game | |
| | Earth Ten Days : 981Hz | $6.99 | 35 82% | 1.1k | $7.3k (exactly $7,340) | TinyBigger | |
| | Long Live the Catgirls! | $4.99 | 45 71% | 1.4k | $6.7k (exactly $6,736) | Cat Paw Game | |
| | RGB GlitchGazer | $1.70 | 54 94% | 1.6k | $2.8k (exactly $2,754) | 群星闪耀时 | |
| | 在一切晴朗的日子里|On all clear days | $1.99 | 33 33% | 990 | $2.0k (exactly $1,970) | 灵虚之幽 | |
| | Lavender Dream | $1.99 | 8 37% | 240 | $478 (exactly $478) | Vorh Games | |
| | Typomon Hunter | $11.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $360 (exactly $360) | Esoteric Games | |
| | Talk to Me Human | $9.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | Least Significant Bit | |
| | Evolutionary Antinomy | $1.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $179 (exactly $179) | Tang Feng |
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.