Games › Hidden Object › Hidden Object + Science
Should I ship a Science Hidden Object?
Hidden Object + Science
Only 17 developers shipped a Science 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, The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 20 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $610, ×1.3 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $620k, ×1319 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 20 games are announced against 13 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $179 (exactly $179) |
|---|---|
| Median | $610 (exactly $610) |
| Top 25% | $7.6k (exactly $7,552) |
| Top 5% | $627k (exactly $626,749) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 71 |
| Announced | 20 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 50% on the market, supply 160% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Hidden Object
- effort 2 / 10 · high · static scenes with click targets
- Science
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Hidden Object; all of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Investigation, Point & Click
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 1,912 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $180. 7 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 20 games are announced against 13 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
CATO: Buttered Cat 2024 · $921k 
The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition 2025 · $627k 
Machinika: Museum 2021 · $284k 
Time Lock VR 1 2017 · $259k 
Machinika: Atlas 2024 · $206k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | CATO: Buttered Cat | older | $10.99 | 2,794 98% | 84k | $921k (exactly $921,182) | Team Woll |
| | The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition | $24.99 | 836 72% | 25k | $627k (exactly $626,749) | Blue Brain Games | |
| | Machinika: Museum | older | $7.99 | 1,184 91% | 36k | $284k (exactly $283,805) | Littlefield Studio |
| | Time Lock VR 1 | older | $12.99 | 665 78% | 20k | $259k (exactly $259,150) | WR-VRG |
| | Machinika: Atlas | $11.99 | 574 76% | 17k | $206k (exactly $206,468) | Littlefield Studio | |
 | Tested on Humans: Escape Room | older | $9.99 | 434 87% | 13k | $130k (exactly $130,070) | mc2games |
 | Looking For Fael | $19.99 | 165 98% | 5.0k | $99k (exactly $98,950) | Swing Swing Submarine, La Poule Noire,… (Swing Swing Submarine, La Poule Noire, ARTE France) | |
 | The House of Da Vinci VR | $24.99 | 126 93% | 3.8k | $94k (exactly $94,462) | Blue Brain Games | |
 | Family Mysteries 2: Echoes of Tomorrow | older | $14.99 | 153 74% | 4.6k | $69k (exactly $68,804) | Brave Giant LTD |
 | NeuraGun | · EA older | $9.99 | 196 81% | 5.9k | $59k (exactly $58,741) | Whale Rock Games |
 | 60 Minutes to Extinction: Escape Room | $7.99 | 153 82% | 4.6k | $37k (exactly $36,674) | mc2games | |
 | COLLAPSE COMPANY | · EA | $8.99 | 28 89% | 840 | $7.6k (exactly $7,552) | VOLT-TECKS GAME STUDIO |
 | Exo Digger | $4.99 | 14 14% | 420 | $2.1k (exactly $2,096) | TornaGames | |
 | Evolution adventure | $3.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $958 (exactly $958) | Stalevar | |
 | Totally Spaced | · EA | $5.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $719 (exactly $719) | Thomas Givan, Ryan P. Faulkner |
 | Ponder Thy Realm | $5.08 | 4 100% | 120 | $610 (exactly $610) | Button Mash Studios |
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.