Games › Visual Novel › Visual Novel + Hacking
Should I ship a Hacking Visual Novel?
Visual Novel + Hacking
Only 13 developers shipped a Hacking Visual Novel 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, Vtuber Hack, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 32 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×5.1 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×288 the market median. Revenue is up 460% on the market; 32 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,427) |
| Top 25% | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) |
| Top 5% | $137k (exactly $136,925) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 32 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 460% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Visual Novel
- effort 2 / 10 · high · script, choices and static art
- Hacking
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Visual Novel
- Price point
- $8.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 220 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 32 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Visual Novel with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + City BuilderStrong odds
- + MusicStrong odds
- + TrainsStrong odds
- + Souls-likeFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + RhythmFair
- + JRPGFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + SwordplayFair
- + GamblingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
Comparable games
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You 2016 · $2.7M 
ANONYMOUS;CODE 2023 · $918k 
Song of Farca 2021 · $831k 
Analogue: A Hate Story 2012 · $508k 
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength 2018 · $451k | 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 |
| | ANONYMOUS;CODE | older | $59.99 | 510 78% | 15k | $918k (exactly $917,847) | MAGES. Inc. |
| | Song of Farca | older | $19.99 | 1,385 78% | 42k | $831k (exactly $830,584) | Wooden Monkeys |
| | Analogue: A Hate Story | older | $9.99 | 1,696 94% | 51k | $508k (exactly $508,291) | Love Conquers All Games |
| | Orwell: Ignorance is Strength | older | $9.99 | 1,506 77% | 45k | $451k (exactly $451,348) | Osmotic Studios |
 | SIMULACRA 2 | older | $7.99 | 1,378 87% | 41k | $330k (exactly $330,307) | Kaigan Games |
 | MINDHACK | · EA older | $12.99 | 712 93% | 21k | $277k (exactly $277,466) | VODKAdemo? |
 | Replica | older | $2.99 | 2,972 85% | 89k | $267k (exactly $266,588) | Somi |
 | Quantum Protocol | older | $12.99 | 625 90% | 19k | $244k (exactly $243,562) | Kaio Meris |
 | Vtuber Hack | $54.99 | 83 74% | 2.5k | $137k (exactly $136,925) | ベルゼブブ | |
 | Venice After Dark | $19.99 | 22 90% | 660 | $13k (exactly $13,193) | Sebastian Grünwald, Weltenwandler Desig… (Sebastian Grünwald, Weltenwandler Designagentur GmbH) | |
 | Saku the Covert Agent | $6.99 | 37 83% | 1.1k | $7.8k (exactly $7,759) | Forward, 78Games | |
 | Forgotten 23 | $12.99 | 14 92% | 420 | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) | KovalGames | |
 | FutaPunk 🌚 | $5.99 | 22 90% | 660 | $4.0k (exactly $3,953) | TheBigO Games | |
 | Cyberfuck 2067 | $10.99 | 9 44% | 270 | $3.0k (exactly $2,967) | Shinka AI Studio | |
 | Hamedori Hacker | $8.99 | 9 77% | 270 | $2.4k (exactly $2,427) | sephironsoft | |
 | Idol Hacked! | $1.99 | 16 43% | 480 | $955 (exactly $955) | theNeko | |
 | Pixel P.I. | · EA | $5.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $898 (exactly $898) | Crischu |
 | Autumn with the Shiba Inu | $7.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $719 (exactly $719) | Quill Game Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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