Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + Psychological Horror
Should I ship a Psychological-Horror Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Psychological Horror
Of 482 developers who shipped a Psychological-Horror 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.. 764 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.0k, ×4.3 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $250k, ×527 the market median. Revenue is up 25% on the market; 764 games are announced against 269 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $540 (exactly $540) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.0k (exactly $2,035) |
| Top 25% | $10k (exactly $10,343) |
| Top 5% | $250k (exactly $250,400) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 482 |
| Released games | 1,168 |
| Announced | 764 |
| 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 25% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 18%, 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 Horror
- 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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Visual Novel, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 86% positive over 87,607 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 287 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 764 games are announced against 269 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 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
Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut 2023 · $17M 
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty 2024 · $15M 
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! 2021 · $14M 
魔女的夜宴 2023 · $10M 
Until Then 2024 · $9.4M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut | older | $17.99 | 31,885 96% | 957k | $17M (exactly $17,208,334) | Black Tabby Games |
| | The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty | older | $9.99 | 49,765 94% | 1.5M | $15M (exactly $14,914,570) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) |
| | Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! | older | $14.99 | 30,148 97% | 904k | $14M (exactly $13,557,556) | Team Salvato |
| | 魔女的夜宴 | older | $34.99 | 9,664 98% | 290k | $10M (exactly $10,144,301) | YUZUSOFT |
| | Until Then | older | $19.99 | 15,721 96% | 472k | $9.4M (exactly $9,427,884) | Polychroma Games |
 | Tiny Bunny | $10.99 | 27,200 83% | 816k | $9.0M (exactly $8,967,840) | Saikono, Sokar | |
 | Little Misfortune | older | $19.99 | 11,789 92% | 354k | $7.1M (exactly $7,069,863) | Killmonday Games AB |
 | Mirror 2: Project X | · EA older | $1.99 | 111,251 24% | 3.3M | $6.6M (exactly $6,641,685) | KAGAMI Ⅱ WORKs |
 | Unheard - Voices of Crime | older | $6.99 | 30,978 95% | 929k | $6.5M (exactly $6,496,087) | NEXT Studios |
 | The Casting of Frank Stone™ | older | $29.99 | 5,580 62% | 167k | $5.0M (exactly $5,020,326) | Supermassive Games |
 | Shift At Midnight | $9.99 | 10,147 88% | 304k | $3.0M (exactly $3,041,056) | Bun Muen | |
 | KARMA: The Dark World | $24.99 | 3,963 90% | 119k | $3.0M (exactly $2,971,061) | POLLARD STUDIO LLC | |
 | The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall | $11.99 | 8,227 58% | 247k | $3.0M (exactly $2,959,252) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) | |
 | Sweet Home | $7.99 | 9,910 94% | 297k | $2.4M (exactly $2,375,427) | 开心茶房 | |
 | Cabernet | $19.99 | 2,025 94% | 61k | $1.2M (exactly $1,214,392) | Party for Introverts | |
 | The NOexistenceN of you AND me | $1.99 | 20,139 93% | 604k | $1.2M (exactly $1,202,298) | 0x0Real Studio | |
 | Desktop Explorer | $17.99 | 2,077 96% | 62k | $1.1M (exactly $1,120,957) | Recurring Dream | |
 | The Life and Suffering of Prince Jerian | $24.99 | 1,356 74% | 41k | $1.0M (exactly $1,016,593) | Schisma Games | |
 | 再见断刀 | $9.99 | 2,563 92% | 77k | $768k (exactly $768,131) | 非侠游戏 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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