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Should I ship a Psychological Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Psychological
Of 301 developers who shipped a Psychological 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.. 540 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.0k, ×4.2 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $200k, ×422 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 540 games are announced against 181 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.0k (exactly $1,977) |
| Top 25% | $8.2k (exactly $8,150) |
| Top 5% | $200k (exactly $200,264) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 301 |
| Released games | 740 |
| Announced | 540 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $5.95 |
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 10% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, 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
- Psychological
- 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, Visual Novel, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $5.95 typical · top 25% priced $11.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric, Emotional
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $5.95.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 87,742 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 8 in 10 of the 169 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 540 games are announced against 181 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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
To the Moon 2012 · $21M 
Revenge on gold diggers 2025 · $9.8M 
Until Then 2024 · $9.4M 
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage 2025 · $7.0M 
Before Your Eyes 2021 · $6.4M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | To the Moon | older | $9.99 | 69,549 95% | 2.1M | $21M (exactly $20,843,835) | Freebird Games |
| | Revenge on gold diggers | $6.99 | 46,610 80% | 1.4M | $9.8M (exactly $9,774,117) | 前方工作室 | |
| | 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 | |
| | Before Your Eyes | older | $9.99 | 21,236 97% | 637k | $6.4M (exactly $6,364,429) | GoodbyeWorld Games, Nice Dream |
 | Finding Paradise | older | $9.99 | 18,126 97% | 544k | $5.4M (exactly $5,432,362) | Freebird Games |
 | Nobody Wants to Die | older | $24.99 | 5,818 83% | 175k | $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) | Critical Hit Games |
 | KARMA: The Dark World | $24.99 | 3,963 90% | 119k | $3.0M (exactly $2,971,061) | POLLARD STUDIO LLC | |
 | Hypnospace Outlaw | older | $19.99 | 4,824 96% | 145k | $2.9M (exactly $2,892,953) | Tendershoot, Michael Lasch, ThatWhichIs… (Tendershoot, Michael Lasch, ThatWhichIs Media) |
 | BURIED STARS | older | $39.99 | 2,117 83% | 64k | $2.5M (exactly $2,539,765) | LINE Games Corporation |
 | The NOexistenceN of you AND me | $1.99 | 20,139 93% | 604k | $1.2M (exactly $1,202,298) | 0x0Real Studio | |
 | Rue Valley | $14.99 | 1,905 69% | 57k | $857k (exactly $856,678) | Emotion Spark Studio | |
 | One-Eyed Likho | $19.99 | 1,155 93% | 35k | $693k (exactly $692,654) | Morteshka | |
 | 极速营救 | $9.99 | 1,860 86% | 56k | $557k (exactly $557,442) | 优映文化, 想象颗粒 | |
 | and Roger | $4.99 | 2,703 95% | 81k | $405k (exactly $404,639) | TearyHand Studio | |
 | 我打不过漂亮的她们 | $10.99 | 1,111 95% | 33k | $366k (exactly $366,297) | 想象颗粒 | |
 | Last Report | $4.99 | 2,423 89% | 73k | $363k (exactly $362,723) | Monopixel Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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