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Should I ship a Pirate Hidden Object?
Hidden Object + Pirates
Only 14 developers shipped a Pirate Hidden Object 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, Seven Seas Jewels 2 Collector's Edition, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $920, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $600. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 17 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $921 (exactly $921) |
| Top 25% | $1.2k (exactly $1,247) |
| Top 5% | $2.9k (exactly $2,878) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 14 |
| Released games | 39 |
| Announced | 17 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $3.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 8%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Hidden Object
- effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets
- Pirates
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Hidden Object; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Point & Click, Puzzle
- Price point
- $3.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Atmospheric, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $3.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 126 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. All of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 17 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Hidden Object with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + Level EditorFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + CatsFair
- + DogsFair
- + RomanceFair
- + FlightFair
- + City BuilderFair
- + SimulationFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + Word GameFair
- + Point & ClickFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Hero of the Kingdom II | older | $8.99 | 1,900 95% | 57k | $512k (exactly $512,430) | Lonely Troops |
| | Uncharted Tides: Port Royal | older | $14.99 | 138 83% | 4.1k | $62k (exactly $62,059) | Cordelia Games |
| | Curse of Black Bone | older | $14.99 | 123 61% | 3.7k | $55k (exactly $55,313) | Entropy Digital Entertainment |
| | Wet Sand | · EA older | $9.99 | 113 93% | 3.4k | $34k (exactly $33,866) | Likho Games |
| | Crowalt: Traces of the Lost Colony | older | $9.99 | 97 79% | 2.9k | $29k (exactly $29,071) | Madcraft Studios |
| | 100 hidden cups | older | $0.99 | 431 42% | 13k | $13k (exactly $12,801) | Anatoliy Loginovskikh, Igor Shalimov |
| | Pixel Pirate | older | $24.99 | 14 78% | 420 | $10k (exactly $10,496) | Stas Paty9mkin |
| | STAR MARS | · EA older | $19.99 | 15 53% | 450 | $9.0k (exactly $8,996) | Magic Dude |
| | Heart of Moon : The Mask of Seasons | older | $5.99 | 34 100% | 1.0k | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) | Unikgame |
| | Arizona Rose and the Pirates' Riddles | older | $9.99 | 20 85% | 600 | $6.0k (exactly $5,994) | Anawiki Games |
| | Seven Seas Jewels 2 Collector's Edition | $15.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $2.9k (exactly $2,878) | Anawiki Games | |
| | Adventure Seekers: Lost to Sea Collector's Edition | $11.99 | 5 20% | 150 | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) | Do Games Limited | |
| | Cannonball Crew | $2.99 | 20 85% | 600 | $1.8k (exactly $1,794) | Sweetbeard | |
| | 100 Find Kitties: Pirates | $0.99 | 42 83% | 1.3k | $1.2k (exactly $1,247) | Sons of Welder | |
| | Reef Defense | $9.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | Swift Creek Games | |
| | Kiana & Biscuit - Pirates on a Visit! | $9.99 | 4 50% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | SpicyFuse | |
| | Hentai Elizabeth | $0.99 | 31 87% | 930 | $921 (exactly $921) | Cyber Keks | |
| | Pile Up, Pirate! | $2.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $807 (exactly $807) | Red Ridge Studio | |
| | Hidden Legends | $6.99 | 3 66% | 90 | $629 (exactly $629) | 17Studio | |
| | Lost Soul of the Missing Island | $9.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $599 (exactly $599) | CDIS Lab. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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