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Should I ship a Historical Word Game?
Word Game + Historical
Of 43 developers who shipped a Historical Word Game 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.. 46 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $630, level with the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×239 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 46 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $239 (exactly $239) |
|---|---|
| Median | $629 (exactly $629) |
| Top 25% | $5.2k (exactly $5,242) |
| Top 5% | $150k (exactly $150,150) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 43 |
| Released games | 88 |
| Announced | 46 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 85% on the market, supply 160% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Word Game
- effort 1 / 10 · high · dictionary logic and simple UI
- Historical
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Word Game; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Interactive Fiction, Adventure, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 72% positive over 13,488 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 15 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 46 games are announced against 31 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Word Game with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SurvivalFair
- + TacticalFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LootFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventureFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Procedural GenerationFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + NatureFair
Comparable games
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty 2024 · $15M 
The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall 2026 · $3.0M 
The Séance of Blake Manor 2025 · $2.2M 
Immortal Family 2024 · $509k 
女儿国的诅咒 The Curse of Womanland 2026 · $150k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty | older | $9.99 | 49,765 94% | 1.5M | $15M (exactly $14,914,570) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) |
| | The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall | $11.99 | 8,227 58% | 247k | $3.0M (exactly $2,959,252) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) | |
| | The Séance of Blake Manor | $19.99 | 3,683 95% | 110k | $2.2M (exactly $2,208,695) | Spooky Doorway | |
| | Immortal Family | older | $13.99 | 1,213 54% | 36k | $509k (exactly $509,096) | 一起来修仙工作室 |
| | 女儿国的诅咒 The Curse of Womanland | $9.99 | 501 96% | 15k | $150k (exactly $150,150) | 符离游戏（FuliGames） | |
 | Lost in Secular Love | older | $9.99 | 500 86% | 15k | $150k (exactly $149,850) | YETU GAME |
 | The Bible | older | $4.99 | 965 87% | 29k | $144k (exactly $144,460) | Bible Games |
 | Insects Awaken | $8.99 | 398 88% | 12k | $107k (exactly $107,341) | HelloMeow | |
 | Prose & Codes | older | $9.99 | 318 99% | 9.5k | $95k (exactly $95,305) | Hero Game Co LLC |
 | Ignited in Cavern | older | $1.99 | 1,326 93% | 40k | $79k (exactly $79,162) | 伤官制作组 Team Uranian |
 | 铜刀银剑 | $9.26 | 188 80% | 5.6k | $52k (exactly $52,226) | 念绣科技 | |
 | MORSE | $13.99 | 124 93% | 3.7k | $52k (exactly $52,043) | ALJO Games | |
 | The Dawning Letters -Sunrise- | $6.99 | 161 95% | 4.8k | $34k (exactly $33,762) | 戏幻言制作组 | |
 | Songs of Life | $8.99 | 80 81% | 2.4k | $22k (exactly $21,576) | DreamStep | |
 | Shui's Odyssey | $4.99 | 88 82% | 2.6k | $13k (exactly $13,174) | Intentional Studio | |
 | 缚戎人：唐建中十三年 | $6.99 | 38 78% | 1.1k | $8.0k (exactly $7,969) | 思维度工作室（Sharewedo Studio） |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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