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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Resource Management game?
Resource Management + Interactive Fiction
Of 56 developers who shipped an Interactive Fiction Resource Management game 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.. 106 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.5k, ×7.3 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $440k, ×939 the market median. Revenue is up 10% on the market; 106 games are announced against 37 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $598 (exactly $598) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.5k (exactly $3,466) |
| Top 25% | $17k (exactly $16,566) |
| Top 5% | $446k (exactly $446,102) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 56 |
| Released games | 121 |
| Announced | 106 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 up 10% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Resource Management
- 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
- Resource Management, Interactive Fiction; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Multiple Endings, Simulation
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Dark
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 11,571 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 9 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 106 games are announced against 37 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Resource Management with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + WesternFair
- + SnowFair
- + JRPGFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + HorsesFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
Comparable games
School Days 2026 · $2.7M 
Kaiju Princess 2 2024 · $1.7M 
风信楼 2021 · $1.2M 
The Pale Beyond 2023 · $1.1M 
Green Hell VR 2022 · $685k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | School Days | $14.99 | 6,023 77% | 181k | $2.7M (exactly $2,708,543) | 白雨工作室 | |
| | Kaiju Princess 2 | $17.99 | 3,107 96% | 93k | $1.7M (exactly $1,676,848) | PantyParrot | |
| | 风信楼 | older | $11.99 | 3,423 94% | 103k | $1.2M (exactly $1,231,253) | Pingfang Games |
| | The Pale Beyond | older | $19.99 | 1,858 90% | 56k | $1.1M (exactly $1,114,243) | Saltstone Studios |
| | Green Hell VR | older | $19.99 | 1,143 57% | 34k | $685k (exactly $685,457) | Incuvo |
 | Mosaique Neko Waifus 4 | older | $4.99 | 4,255 94% | 128k | $637k (exactly $636,974) | Lil Hentai Games |
 | The Fermi Paradox | · EA older | $18.99 | 956 76% | 29k | $545k (exactly $544,633) | Anomaly Games |
 | Corruption Town | · EA | $14.99 | 992 88% | 30k | $446k (exactly $446,102) | BoredBasmati |
 | Heading Out | older | $19.99 | 639 74% | 19k | $383k (exactly $383,208) | Serious Sim, Crunching Koalas |
 | KONOSUBA - God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Love For These Clothes Of Desire! | older | $49.99 | 210 89% | 6.3k | $315k (exactly $314,937) | MAGES. Inc. |
 | Asbury Pines | · EA | $12.99 | 558 90% | 17k | $217k (exactly $217,453) | Chaystar Unlimited LLC |
 | Big Tiddy Goth Baddie🖤⛓️ | $14.99 | 152 76% | 4.6k | $68k (exactly $68,354) | BanzaiProject | |
 | Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall | · EA | $19.99 | 111 71% | 3.3k | $67k (exactly $66,567) | A Memory of Eternity |
 | Terraformental | · EA | $5.99 | 365 97% | 11k | $66k (exactly $65,590) | Shady Games |
 | Mistwinter Bay | $29.99 | 50 84% | 1.5k | $45k (exactly $44,985) | Swordlake Entertainment | |
 | Interdimensional Vending Machine | $7.99 | 185 84% | 5.6k | $44k (exactly $44,344) | Neuroticfly Games | |
 | SINce Memories: Off The Starry Sky | $39.99 | 28 75% | 840 | $34k (exactly $33,592) | MAGES. Inc. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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