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Should I ship a Pirate Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Pirates
Only 7 developers shipped a Pirate Interactive Fiction in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Erannorth Renaissance, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 7 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×2.1 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $720. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 7 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $718 (exactly $718) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,319) |
| Top 25% | $43k (exactly $43,487) |
| Top 5% | $112k (exactly $111,544) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 7 |
| Released games | 29 |
| Announced | 7 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 150% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 24%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Pirates
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $7.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 1,124 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 7 games are announced against 5 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Interactive Fiction with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + VampiresFair
- + SportsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + DrivingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Board GameFair
- + SnowFair
- + BuildingFair
- + SpellingPoor odds
Comparable games
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet 2016 · $140k 
Erannorth Renaissance 2025 · $112k 
Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown 2021 · $66k 
Curse of Black Bone 2022 · $55k 
Cape Hideous 2024 · $43k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet | older | $19.99 | 233 94% | 7.0k | $140k (exactly $139,730) | Alasdair Beckett-King, Application Syst… (Alasdair Beckett-King, Application Systems Heidelberg) |
| | Erannorth Renaissance | $19.99 | 186 81% | 5.6k | $112k (exactly $111,544) | Spyridon Thalassinos | |
| | Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown | older | $19.99 | 110 77% | 3.3k | $66k (exactly $65,967) | Tin Man Games, Zero One Studio |
| | Curse of Black Bone | older | $14.99 | 123 61% | 3.7k | $55k (exactly $55,313) | Entropy Digital Entertainment |
| | Cape Hideous | $5.99 | 242 98% | 7.3k | $43k (exactly $43,487) | Jake Clover | |
 | Hazeron Starship | older | $19.99 | 55 70% | 1.7k | $33k (exactly $32,984) | Hazeron Freehold LLC |
 | Heileen 3: New Horizons | older | $24.99 | 27 77% | 810 | $20k (exactly $20,242) | Winter Wolves |
 | Choice of the Pirate | older | $4.99 | 107 92% | 3.2k | $16k (exactly $16,018) | Choice of Games |
 | Ghost In The Mirror | older | $9.99 | 21 85% | 630 | $6.3k (exactly $6,294) | Stefano Mazzotta (Il Sui) |
 | Arizona Rose and the Pirates' Riddles | older | $9.99 | 20 85% | 600 | $6.0k (exactly $5,994) | Anawiki Games |
 | Seven Seas Jewels 2 Collector's Edition | $15.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $2.9k (exactly $2,878) | Anawiki Games | |
 | Silk and Sabre | · EA | $10.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $1.3k (exactly $1,319) | JellyFluff Games |
 | Scarlet Sails | $3.99 | 6 33% | 180 | $718 (exactly $718) | Hosted Games | |
 | The Lighthouse of Black Salt | $3.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Light Source | |
 | ChronoQuest VR | $7.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Wopper |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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