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Should I ship an LGBTQ+ Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + LGBTQ+
Of 260 developers who shipped an LGBTQ+ 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.. 385 more are announced, ×2.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.9k, ×41 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $780; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×2893 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 385 games are announced against 154 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $776 (exactly $776) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.9k (exactly $4,852) |
| Top 25% | $31k (exactly $31,161) |
| Top 5% | $344k (exactly $344,314) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 260 |
| Released games | 869 |
| Announced | 385 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 up 35% on the market, supply 30% 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.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- LGBTQ+
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Adventure, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.00 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 $18.00 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 89% positive over 52,681 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $780. 8 in 10 of the 166 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 385 games are announced against 154 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Interactive Fiction with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + VampiresFair
- + SportsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PiratesFair
- + DrivingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Board GameFair
- + SnowFair
- + BuildingFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Until Then | older | $19.99 | 15,721 96% | 472k | $9.4M (exactly $9,427,884) | Polychroma Games |
| | Lost Records: Bloom & Rage | $39.99 | 5,873 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,045,838) | DON'T NOD | |
| | Gone Home | older | $14.99 | 13,619 77% | 409k | $6.1M (exactly $6,124,464) | Fullbright |
| | The Roottrees are Dead | $19.99 | 9,700 96% | 291k | $5.8M (exactly $5,817,090) | Evil Trout Inc. | |
| | Coffee Talk | older | $12.99 | 11,271 94% | 338k | $4.4M (exactly $4,392,309) | Toge Productions |
| | Road to Empress Ⅱ | $18.00 | 7,773 80% | 233k | $4.2M (exactly $4,197,420) | New One Studio | |
| | 月に寄りそう乙女の作法 | older | $39.99 | 3,462 97% | 104k | $4.2M (exactly $4,153,361) | Navel |
| | Haven | older | $24.99 | 5,294 88% | 159k | $4.0M (exactly $3,968,912) | The Game Bakers |
| | Storyteller | older | $14.99 | 8,169 88% | 245k | $3.7M (exactly $3,673,599) | Daniel Benmergui |
| | I Was a Teenage Exocolonist | older | $24.99 | 4,443 96% | 133k | $3.3M (exactly $3,330,917) | Northway Games |
| | Road to Empress I | $8.49 | 11,829 86% | 355k | $3.0M (exactly $3,012,846) | New One Studio | |
| | Sweet Home | $7.99 | 9,910 94% | 297k | $2.4M (exactly $2,375,427) | 开心茶房 | |
| | Love Curse: Find Your Soulmate | $14.00 | 3,275 95% | 98k | $1.4M (exactly $1,375,500) | Xso | |
| | 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. | |
| | Sensei! I Like You So Much! | $16.99 | 1,304 86% | 39k | $665k (exactly $664,649) | LaoO Studio (Shanghai Ou Ou Xi Network… (LaoO Studio (Shanghai Ou Ou Xi Network Technology Co. LTD)) | |
| | Old Skies | $19.99 | 969 93% | 29k | $581k (exactly $581,109) | Wadjet Eye Games | |
| | JASON, Coming of Age | $14.99 | 1,213 83% | 36k | $545k (exactly $545,486) | Coeur de cochon |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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