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Should I ship a Quick-Time Events Interactive Fiction?
Quick-Time Events + Interactive Fiction
Of 31 developers who shipped a Quick-Time Events 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.. 35 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.6k, ×7.6 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $720; 1 in 20 cleared $1.2M, ×2620 the market median. Revenue is down 50% on the market; 35 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $719 (exactly $719) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) |
| Top 25% | $43k (exactly $42,733) |
| Top 5% | $1.2M (exactly $1,244,378) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 31 |
| Released games | 71 |
| Announced | 35 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 down 50% on the market, supply 10% fewer 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.
- Quick-Time Events
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Quick-Time Events, Interactive Fiction; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Visual Novel, Dating Sim
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cinematic, Story Rich, Emotional
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 8,115 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $720. 5 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 35 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Quick-Time Events with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimFair
- + Shoot 'Em UpFair
- + Life SimFair
- + SimulationFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + Resource ManagementFair
- + FlightFair
- + AliensFair
- + SpaceFair
- + Bullet TimeLong shot
- + DemonsLong shot
- + Bullet HellLong shot
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Heavy Rain | older | $19.99 | 26,503 85% | 795k | $16M (exactly $15,893,849) | Quantic Dream |
| | Until Dawn™ | $59.99 | 3,564 82% | 107k | $6.4M (exactly $6,414,131) | Ballistic Moon | |
| | New Tales from the Borderlands | older | $39.99 | 1,737 29% | 52k | $2.1M (exactly $2,083,879) | Gearbox Software |
| | Card Shark | older | $19.99 | 2,965 90% | 89k | $1.8M (exactly $1,778,110) | Nerial |
| | Hello Love: 18 Again | $19.99 | 2,075 92% | 62k | $1.2M (exactly $1,244,378) | 念念而忘(Echofall Studio) | |
| | Superscout | older | $17.99 | 652 75% | 20k | $352k (exactly $351,884) | Mountain and Sea Studio |
| | Growing Things Up - Season 1 | $12.99 | 707 91% | 21k | $276k (exactly $275,518) | King, BLANQ | |
| | 反转21克 | older | $8.99 | 1,020 72% | 31k | $275k (exactly $275,094) | 想象颗粒 |
| | Joe Dever's Lone Wolf HD Remastered | older | $14.99 | 596 75% | 18k | $268k (exactly $268,021) | Reply Game Studios |
| | THE VIG | $17.99 | 488 90% | 15k | $263k (exactly $263,374) | 亦盈文化, 山与海工作室, 北京超带感 | |
| | Sorry! I surrounded beauty! | $5.99 | 344 82% | 10k | $62k (exactly $61,817) | Really Games | |
| | 我的同事不对劲 | $8.99 | 215 89% | 6.5k | $58k (exactly $57,986) | 11J Studio | |
| | Couple-Cultivation Saves the World | $7.99 | 196 59% | 5.9k | $47k (exactly $46,981) | Guns&Roses Studio | |
| | 蜀汉再临:源起 Restart ShuHan Dynasty:Origin | $3.99 | 357 76% | 11k | $43k (exactly $42,733) | 浙江海蕊盈信网络科技有限公司 | |
| | Legends of Savvarah: Children of the Sun | $7.99 | 75 92% | 2.3k | $18k (exactly $17,978) | ST Sinovar | |
| | Legends of Savvarah: Flowers and Scorpions | $5.99 | 94 95% | 2.8k | $17k (exactly $16,892) | ST Sinovar |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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