Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + Robots
Should I ship a Robot Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Robots
Of 27 developers who shipped a Robot 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.. 47 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×2.4 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $180k, ×299 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 47 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $358 (exactly $358) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) |
| Top 25% | $6.5k (exactly $6,472) |
| Top 5% | $188k (exactly $187,706) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 27 |
| Released games | 84 |
| Announced | 47 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 flat on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Robots
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Dating Sim, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 7 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 2,612 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 7 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 47 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 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
The Invincible 2023 · $9.0M 
Caravan SandWitch 2024 · $2.1M 
State of Mind 2018 · $928k 
Choice of Robots 2014 · $397k 
Sexbot 2024 · $325k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Invincible | older | $29.99 | 10,055 87% | 302k | $9.0M (exactly $9,046,484) | Starward Industries |
| | Caravan SandWitch | older | $24.99 | 2,797 88% | 84k | $2.1M (exactly $2,096,911) | Studio Plane Toast |
| | State of Mind | older | $19.99 | 1,548 76% | 46k | $928k (exactly $928,336) | Daedalic Entertainment |
| | Choice of Robots | older | $6.99 | 1,893 96% | 57k | $397k (exactly $396,962) | Choice of Games |
| | Sexbot | $14.99 | 723 86% | 22k | $325k (exactly $325,133) | Llamamann Games | |
 | Heaven Will Be Mine | older | $14.99 | 709 92% | 21k | $319k (exactly $318,837) | Pillow Fight, Worst Girls Games |
 | CAT Interstellar | older | $9.99 | 695 70% | 21k | $208k (exactly $208,292) | Ionized Games |
 | ToHeart | $19.99 | 313 87% | 9.4k | $188k (exactly $187,706) | AQUAPLUS | |
 | Monolith | older | $14.99 | 323 74% | 9.7k | $145k (exactly $145,253) | Animation Arts |
 | 我的机器人女友 | $4.99 | 911 90% | 27k | $136k (exactly $136,377) | 时娱游戏 | |
 | Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion | $9.99 | 353 93% | 11k | $106k (exactly $105,794) | Bubby Darkstar | |
 | Train and Tame | $9.99 | 184 65% | 5.5k | $55k (exactly $55,145) | Tames Games | |
 | DATING OF THE FUTURE | $15.99 | 43 90% | 1.3k | $21k (exactly $20,627) | geoWaffle | |
 | About an Elf | $7.99 | 27 88% | 810 | $6.5k (exactly $6,472) | Meringue Interactive | |
 | Tale of android after the Apocalypse | $4.99 | 21 80% | 630 | $3.1k (exactly $3,144) | Team Moko App. | |
 | Sex Machina | $4.99 | 19 73% | 570 | $2.8k (exactly $2,844) | TheBigO Games | |
 | Qelochia | $4.99 | 18 100% | 540 | $2.7k (exactly $2,695) | Super Brain Hemorrhage |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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