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Should I ship a Nature Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Nature
Of 59 developers who shipped a Nature 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.. 132 more are announced, ×5.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $210k, ×458 the market median. Revenue is up 200% on the market; 132 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $3.8k (exactly $3,775) |
| Top 5% | $217k (exactly $217,453) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 59 |
| Released games | 179 |
| Announced | 132 |
| 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 up 200% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 22%, 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
- Nature
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Story Rich, First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 7,398 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 48 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 132 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Lost Records: Bloom & Rage | $39.99 | 5,873 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,045,838) | DON'T NOD | |
| | Shelter 2 | older | $24.99 | 3,378 87% | 101k | $2.5M (exactly $2,532,487) | Might and Delight |
| | SEASON: A letter to the future | older | $24.99 | 1,832 93% | 55k | $1.4M (exactly $1,373,450) | Scavengers Studio |
| | Green Hell VR | older | $19.99 | 1,143 57% | 34k | $685k (exactly $685,457) | Incuvo |
| | Mutazione | older | $19.99 | 1,123 95% | 34k | $673k (exactly $673,463) | Die Gute Fabrik |
| | Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy | $39.99 | 526 90% | 16k | $631k (exactly $631,042) | Microids Studio Paris | |
| | Kona II: Brume | older | $29.99 | 433 80% | 13k | $390k (exactly $389,570) | Parabole |
| | Paradise | older | $19.99 | 561 90% | 17k | $336k (exactly $336,432) | PIL/SLASH |
| | Sisters: Last Day of Summer | older | $24.99 | 408 84% | 12k | $306k (exactly $305,878) | Jellyfish |
| | Asbury Pines | · EA | $12.99 | 558 90% | 17k | $217k (exactly $217,453) | Chaystar Unlimited LLC |
| | Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina) | $19.99 | 151 90% | 4.5k | $91k (exactly $90,555) | Unreliable Narrators | |
| | Primal Hearts | $24.99 | 38 89% | 1.1k | $28k (exactly $28,489) | Marmalade | |
| | Jukai Maze | $6.99 | 107 86% | 3.2k | $22k (exactly $22,438) | 致意 | |
| | MIRO | $14.99 | 32 100% | 960 | $14k (exactly $14,390) | Lost Saved Data_ | |
| | Magical Greenhouse | $6.99 | 58 93% | 1.7k | $12k (exactly $12,163) | Mgtt Studio | |
| | Greenhouse | $9.99 | 33 100% | 990 | $9.9k (exactly $9,890) | Ekull | |
| | Asterism | $13.99 | 22 100% | 660 | $9.2k (exactly $9,233) | Claire Morwood |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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