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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Logic game?
Logic + Interactive Fiction
Of 110 developers who shipped an Interactive Fiction Logic 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.. 162 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 $1.1k, ×9.1 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $170k, ×1433 the market median. Revenue is up 55% on the market; 162 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $360 (exactly $360) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,079) |
| Top 25% | $5.7k (exactly $5,662) |
| Top 5% | $171k (exactly $170,545) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 110 |
| Released games | 281 |
| Announced | 162 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 55% on the market, supply 35% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Logic
- effort 2 / 10 · high · deductive rules and grids
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Logic, Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Investigation
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, First-Person, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 16,683 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 58 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 162 games are announced against 65 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Logic with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + LovecraftianFair
- + City BuilderFair
- + NoirFair
- + HackingFair
- + VampiresFair
- + DragonsFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Bullet TimeFair
- + Inventory ManagementFair
- + TransportationFair
- + Automobile SimFair
- + CookingFair
Comparable games
The Roottrees are Dead 2025 · $5.8M 
Trials of Innocence 2025 · $667k 
Murder by Numbers 2020 · $518k 
Game of Fate 2: A Century's Promise 2025 · $506k 
Game Of Fate 3：Clash Of Crowns 2025 · $370k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Roottrees are Dead | $19.99 | 9,700 96% | 291k | $5.8M (exactly $5,817,090) | Evil Trout Inc. | |
| | Trials of Innocence | $16.99 | 1,308 91% | 39k | $667k (exactly $666,688) | 猫龙游戏 | |
| | Murder by Numbers | older | $14.99 | 1,152 85% | 35k | $518k (exactly $518,054) | Mediatonic |
| | Game of Fate 2: A Century's Promise | $15.99 | 1,054 78% | 32k | $506k (exactly $505,604) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
| | Game Of Fate 3：Clash Of Crowns | $16.79 | 734 85% | 22k | $370k (exactly $369,716) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Game of Fate: Chasing Through Time | $10.99 | 986 88% | 30k | $325k (exactly $325,084) | KARMAGAME HK LIMITED | |
 | Confidential Killings - A Detective Game | $14.99 | 716 76% | 21k | $322k (exactly $321,985) | BRANE, Lorenzo Boni | |
 | Misty Judgment | $8.99 | 1,170 92% | 35k | $316k (exactly $315,549) | 次元边界 | |
 | Mind Diver | $17.99 | 316 94% | 9.5k | $171k (exactly $170,545) | Indoor Sunglasses | |
 | Monolith | older | $14.99 | 323 74% | 9.7k | $145k (exactly $145,253) | Animation Arts |
 | Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game | $9.99 | 449 90% | 13k | $135k (exactly $134,565) | Posh Cat Studios | |
 | Gensokyo：Presumption of Guilt~Pansies Before Dawn | $14.99 | 250 92% | 7.5k | $112k (exactly $112,425) | 戏壤游戏(Xirang Games) |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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