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Should I ship a Hacking Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Hacking
Of 25 developers who shipped a Hacking 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.. 56 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $900, ×1.9 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $390; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×729 the market median. Revenue is up 170% on the market; 56 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $390 (exactly $390) |
|---|---|
| Median | $898 (exactly $898) |
| Top 25% | $7.8k (exactly $7,794) |
| Top 5% | $346k (exactly $346,421) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 56 |
| Announced | 56 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $8.49 |
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 170% on the market, supply 25% 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.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Hacking
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Puzzle, Multiple Endings, Simulation
- Price point
- $8.49 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $8.49.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 5,838 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $390. 8 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 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
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You 2016 · $2.7M 
Analogue: A Hate Story 2012 · $508k 
HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator 2026 · $478k 
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength 2018 · $451k 
s.p.l.i.t 2025 · $346k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You | older | $9.99 | 8,936 90% | 268k | $2.7M (exactly $2,678,119) | Osmotic Studios |
| | Analogue: A Hate Story | older | $9.99 | 1,696 94% | 51k | $508k (exactly $508,291) | Love Conquers All Games |
| | HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator | $16.99 | 937 88% | 28k | $478k (exactly $477,589) | HotBunny | |
| | Orwell: Ignorance is Strength | older | $9.99 | 1,506 77% | 45k | $451k (exactly $451,348) | Osmotic Studios |
| | s.p.l.i.t | $2.99 | 3,862 92% | 116k | $346k (exactly $346,421) | Mike Klubnika | |
 | No Players Online | $14.99 | 624 83% | 19k | $281k (exactly $280,613) | Beeswax Games | |
 | Yolo Space Hacker | older | $24.99 | 208 95% | 6.2k | $156k (exactly $155,938) | BKNLab |
 | Keyword: A Spider's Thread | older | $16.99 | 239 79% | 7.2k | $122k (exactly $121,818) | City From Naught Inc. |
 | SIMULACRA 3 | older | $9.99 | 328 56% | 9.8k | $98k (exactly $98,302) | Kaigan Games |
 | Hacked: The Streamer | $8.49 | 268 73% | 8.0k | $68k (exactly $68,260) | Button Interactive, NAISU | |
 | The Case of Andrew D. | $14.99 | 24 87% | 720 | $11k (exactly $10,793) | Marcin Borkowski | |
 | Hello Stranger | $9.99 | 31 80% | 930 | $9.3k (exactly $9,291) | PRM Games | |
 | Blackdoor | $12.99 | 20 85% | 600 | $7.8k (exactly $7,794) | Static Signal | |
 | GAME.exe 2 - Phantom Strike | $5.99 | 34 76% | 1.0k | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) | Punx Studios | |
 | Forgotten 23 | $12.99 | 14 92% | 420 | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) | KovalGames | |
 | PINEAPPLE: A Bittersweet Revenge | $4.99 | 24 83% | 720 | $3.6k (exactly $3,593) | PATRONES & ESCONDITES |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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