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Should I ship an Investigation Interactive Fiction?
Investigation + Interactive Fiction
Of 294 developers who shipped an Investigation 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.. 560 more are announced, ×3.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.1k, ×4.4 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×729 the market median. Revenue is down 20% on the market; 560 games are announced against 168 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.1k (exactly $2,098) |
| Top 25% | $20k (exactly $20,236) |
| Top 5% | $346k (exactly $346,421) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 294 |
| Released games | 820 |
| Announced | 560 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Investigation
- 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
- Investigation, Interactive Fiction; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 37,473 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 158 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 560 games are announced against 168 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Investigation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Escape RoomFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TriviaLong shot
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + GothicPoor odds
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Card GamePoor odds
- + SciencePoor odds
Comparable games
Heavy Rain 2020 · $16M 
Unheard - Voices of Crime 2019 · $6.5M 
The Roottrees are Dead 2025 · $5.8M 
Pentiment 2022 · $5.5M 
The Case of the Golden Idol 2022 · $5.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Heavy Rain | older | $19.99 | 26,503 85% | 795k | $16M (exactly $15,893,849) | Quantic Dream |
| | Unheard - Voices of Crime | older | $6.99 | 30,978 95% | 929k | $6.5M (exactly $6,496,087) | NEXT Studios |
| | The Roottrees are Dead | $19.99 | 9,700 96% | 291k | $5.8M (exactly $5,817,090) | Evil Trout Inc. | |
| | Pentiment | older | $19.99 | 9,231 95% | 277k | $5.5M (exactly $5,535,831) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| | The Case of the Golden Idol | older | $17.99 | 9,794 97% | 294k | $5.3M (exactly $5,285,822) | Color Gray Games |
 | The Casting of Frank Stone™ | older | $29.99 | 5,580 62% | 167k | $5.0M (exactly $5,020,326) | Supermassive Games |
 | Nobody Wants to Die | older | $24.99 | 5,818 83% | 175k | $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) | Critical Hit Games |
 | AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative | older | $39.99 | 3,571 86% | 107k | $4.3M (exactly $4,284,129) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. |
 | Killer Frequency | older | $24.99 | 5,131 93% | 154k | $3.8M (exactly $3,846,711) | Team17 |
 | The Operator | older | $13.99 | 8,515 91% | 255k | $3.6M (exactly $3,573,746) | Bureau 81 |
 | Shift At Midnight | $9.99 | 10,147 88% | 304k | $3.0M (exactly $3,041,056) | Bun Muen | |
 | The Rise of the Golden Idol | $19.99 | 3,786 92% | 114k | $2.3M (exactly $2,270,464) | Color Gray Games | |
 | The Mermaid Mask | $19.99 | 2,776 99% | 83k | $1.7M (exactly $1,664,767) | SFB Games | |
 | Desktop Explorer | $17.99 | 2,077 96% | 62k | $1.1M (exactly $1,120,957) | Recurring Dream | |
 | Kindergarten 3 | $19.99 | 1,774 94% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,063,868) | Con Man Games, Sean Young | |
 | No Sleep For Kaname Date - From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES | $39.99 | 835 79% | 25k | $1.0M (exactly $1,001,750) | Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. | |
 | Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping | $9.99 | 2,571 96% | 77k | $771k (exactly $770,529) | Happy Broccoli Games | |
 | 再见断刀 | $9.99 | 2,563 92% | 77k | $768k (exactly $768,131) | 非侠游戏 | |
 | Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer | $19.99 | 1,244 95% | 37k | $746k (exactly $746,027) | Clifftop Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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