Games › Immersive Sim › Immersive Sim + Hidden Object
Should I ship a Hidden Object Immersive Sim?
Immersive Sim + Hidden Object
Of 217 developers who shipped a Hidden Object Immersive Sim 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.. 273 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, level with the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $120k, ×81 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 273 games are announced against 120 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $358 (exactly $358) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) |
| Top 25% | $8.6k (exactly $8,630) |
| Top 5% | $121k (exactly $121,324) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 217 |
| Released games | 460 |
| Announced | 273 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 up 10% 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 low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Immersive Sim
- effort 8 / 10 · low · effort 8 sits in the low band
- Hidden Object
- effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- Immersive Sim, Hidden Object; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Puzzle, Adventure
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $10.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $10.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 35,081 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 8 in 10 of the 121 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 273 games are announced against 120 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Immersive Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + Trading Card GameStrong odds
- + MinigamesStrong odds
- + WesternStrong odds
- + BoxingStrong odds
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Asynchronous MultiplayerFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + RomanceFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Split ScreenFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library! | $5.99 | 24,497 94% | 735k | $4.4M (exactly $4,402,111) | ArtRising | |
| | I Expect You To Die | older | $24.99 | 2,169 95% | 65k | $1.6M (exactly $1,626,099) | Schell Games |
| | IMMORTALITY | older | $19.99 | 1,768 84% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,060,270) | Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid |
| | Obenseuer | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,684 94% | 51k | $1.0M (exactly $1,009,895) | Loiste Interactive |
| | Lushfoil Photography Sim | $14.99 | 1,718 91% | 52k | $773k (exactly $772,585) | Matt2 | |
| | PANELKI | older | $7.99 | 2,404 86% | 72k | $576k (exactly $576,239) | Alexander Gromyko |
| | [Chilla's Art] The Closing Shift | 閉店事件 | older | $5.99 | 2,963 87% | 89k | $532k (exactly $532,451) | Chilla's Art |
| | The Witch of Fern Island | older | $24.99 | 700 69% | 21k | $525k (exactly $524,790) | Enjoy Studio S.A. |
| | Lost But Found | $6.99 | 2,316 71% | 69k | $486k (exactly $485,665) | Rogue Duck Interactive | |
| | Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography | older | $19.99 | 653 90% | 20k | $392k (exactly $391,604) | Autumn Pioneer |
| | My Wife Threw Out My Card Collection (So I Bought a Dump to Find Them All) ⭐ | $7.95 | 1,601 65% | 48k | $382k (exactly $381,838) | Polnoch | |
| | Sort Them Ducks | $5.99 | 1,461 92% | 44k | $263k (exactly $262,542) | Mr.Duck | |
| | Take me, Vitaly | $5.99 | 1,136 98% | 34k | $204k (exactly $204,139) | Старый Билд | |
| | Dyping Escape | $9.99 | 544 91% | 16k | $163k (exactly $163,037) | Heaviside Creations | |
| | DDinosaur with Double D's | $6.99 | 771 97% | 23k | $162k (exactly $161,679) | Kud | |
| | I'm on Observation Duty 7 | $11.99 | 426 93% | 13k | $153k (exactly $153,232) | Notovia, Dreamloop Games | |
| | Cursed Digicam | 呪われたデジカメ | $7.99 | 611 78% | 18k | $146k (exactly $146,457) | Chilla's Art |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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