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Should I ship an Inventory Management Interactive Fiction?
Inventory Management + Interactive Fiction
Of 31 developers who shipped an Inventory Management Interactive Fiction 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.. 66 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×2.2 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $16k, ×35 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 66 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $299 (exactly $299) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
| Top 25% | $4.2k (exactly $4,198) |
| Top 5% | $17k (exactly $16,566) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 31 |
| Released games | 78 |
| Announced | 66 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 down 65% on the market, supply 120% 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.
- Inventory Management
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Inventory Management, Interactive Fiction; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Resource Management, Simulation, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 412 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. All of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 66 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Inventory Management with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Job SimulatorStrong odds
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + Roguelike DeckbuilderFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + WargameFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + DeckbuildingFair
- + LogicFair
- + Card GameFair
- + Trading Card GameFair
- + Puzzle PlatformerFair
- + God GameFair
Comparable games
Mosaique Neko Waifus 4 2021 · $637k 
Mosaique Neko Waifus 3 2020 · $275k 
Mosaique Neko Waifus 5 2022 · $239k 
Riddle of the Sphinx™ The Awakening (Enhanced Edition) 2021 · $50k 
Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning 2018 · $48k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Mosaique Neko Waifus 4 | older | $4.99 | 4,255 94% | 128k | $637k (exactly $636,974) | Lil Hentai Games |
| | Mosaique Neko Waifus 3 | older | $4.99 | 1,840 94% | 55k | $275k (exactly $275,448) | Lil Hentai Games |
| | Mosaique Neko Waifus 5 | older | $5.99 | 1,328 93% | 40k | $239k (exactly $238,642) | Lil Hentai Games |
| | Riddle of the Sphinx™ The Awakening (Enhanced Edition) | older | $19.99 | 84 83% | 2.5k | $50k (exactly $50,375) | Old World Studios™ |
| | Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning | older | $4.99 | 322 84% | 9.7k | $48k (exactly $48,203) | Entertainment Forge |
 | Loch Ness | · EA older | $13.99 | 104 38% | 3.1k | $44k (exactly $43,649) | JFi Games |
 | Apocalypse: The Last RV | · EA | $4.99 | 159 68% | 4.8k | $24k (exactly $23,802) | 光年切片工作室 |
 | The Tribe Game | older | $19.99 | 30 76% | 900 | $18k (exactly $17,991) | Cloud 9 Limited |
 | Human Fast Food | $6.99 | 79 89% | 2.4k | $17k (exactly $16,566) | Bricchi Games | |
 | Ace Campus Club | older | $14.99 | 36 52% | 1.1k | $16k (exactly $16,189) | ZiX Solutions |
 | Book Smugglers | $14.99 | 25 92% | 750 | $11k (exactly $11,242) | FLUXO GAMES | |
 | Trial of lust | $8.99 | 35 94% | 1.1k | $9.4k (exactly $9,440) | Broken English | |
 | Sanguine | · EA | $12.99 | 12 91% | 360 | $4.7k (exactly $4,676) | Ryan Berg |
 | Airport Manager Simulator 2026 | · EA | $7.99 | 18 16% | 540 | $4.3k (exactly $4,315) | IORDER |
 | Cold Bed on Route | $2.99 | 47 93% | 1.4k | $4.2k (exactly $4,216) | Old Retina Museum | |
 | Desideratum: Blood Bonds | · EA | $19.99 | 7 85% | 210 | $4.2k (exactly $4,198) | Anaximanes Entertainment |
 | Teen Zombie In Your Cabin | $5.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $2.9k (exactly $2,875) | Pent Panda | |
 | Housekeeper: Anomaly | $5.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $2.5k (exactly $2,516) | Alex Grim |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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