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Should I ship a PvP Interactive Fiction?
PvP + Interactive Fiction
Only 12 developers shipped a PvP 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, Native Hunter, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 30 more are announced, ×4.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 8 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, level with the market's $1.5k for a 8 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $320; 1 in 20 cleared $31k, ×21 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 30 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $314 (exactly $314) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,544) |
| Top 25% | $4.5k (exactly $4,496) |
| Top 5% | $31k (exactly $31,303) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 12 |
| Released games | 33 |
| Announced | 30 |
| Effort | 8 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 down 65% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- PvP
- effort 8 / 10 · low · authoritative servers, latency compensation, cheating
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 8 / 10 · online systems, open world
- Systems
- PvP, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $5.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 77% positive over 189 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $320. All of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 30 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
PvP with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + BaseballFair
- + TransportationFair
- + BasketballFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BikesFair
- + GolfFair
- + World War IFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + TennisLong shot
- + TypingLong shot
- + SpellingLong shot
Comparable games
The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] 2019 · $308k 
World Wide Hack 2021 · EA · $35k 
Native Hunter 2025 · $31k 
Puppet Fever 2018 · EA · $14k 
ASTROSMASH 2023 · $8.1k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] | older | $14.99 | 685 87% | 21k | $308k (exactly $308,044) | Leonard Menchiari, Daniele Vicinanzo, G… (Leonard Menchiari, Daniele Vicinanzo, Giulio Perrone) |
| | World Wide Hack | · EA older | $16.99 | 69 60% | 2.1k | $35k (exactly $35,169) | Lotus Innovations |
| | Native Hunter | $17.99 | 58 72% | 1.7k | $31k (exactly $31,303) | A.P.S | |
| | Puppet Fever | · EA older | $14.99 | 31 87% | 930 | $14k (exactly $13,941) | Coastalbyte Games |
| | ASTROSMASH | older | $14.99 | 18 77% | 540 | $8.1k (exactly $8,095) | BBG Entertainment GmbH |
 | The Trasamire Campaigns | older | $12.99 | 20 70% | 600 | $7.8k (exactly $7,794) | Gemcutter Games |
 | Diddy | $7.99 | 24 62% | 720 | $5.8k (exactly $5,753) | GalaxyVerse | |
 | Call of Coronga | older | $3.99 | 44 65% | 1.3k | $5.3k (exactly $5,267) | Luiz Felipe Da Silva Marian |
 | Roarr! The Adventures of Rampage Rex | older | $2.99 | 54 66% | 1.6k | $4.8k (exactly $4,844) | Born Lucky Games |
 | Saints and Sinners | · EA older | $6.99 | 22 63% | 660 | $4.6k (exactly $4,613) | threeW |
 | Azmar Quest - Text Based RPG | $9.99 | 15 100% | 450 | $4.5k (exactly $4,496) | Sevan Soukiassian | |
 | MechaCap Arena | $7.99 | 11 90% | 330 | $2.6k (exactly $2,637) | Paraflux Games | |
 | the travelers | $4.99 | 16 100% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | Gabriel Games LLC | |
 | MEMOLOGY: War of Memes | $0.99 | 52 76% | 1.6k | $1.5k (exactly $1,544) | Piece Of Voxel, Gamesforfarm, hannibaln… (Piece Of Voxel, Gamesforfarm, hannibalnotdead) | |
 | The Storyteller | $5.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $719 (exactly $719) | Ferrari Dev | |
 | ASTROSMASH 1981 | $4.99 | 4 0% | 120 | $599 (exactly $599) | BBG Entertainment GmbH | |
 | hEvEN oN sNOrF | $3.49 | 3 100% | 90 | $314 (exactly $314) | Majao Games | |
 | RP2D Virtual Tabletop | · EA | $2.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $179 (exactly $179) | Lilibot Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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