Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + Romance
Should I ship a Romance Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Romance
Of 564 developers who shipped a Romance 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.. 718 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.9k, ×50 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.3k; 1 in 20 cleared $350k, ×2988 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 718 games are announced against 344 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.9k (exactly $5,933) |
| Top 25% | $41k (exactly $41,359) |
| Top 5% | $356k (exactly $355,622) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 564 |
| Released games | 1,608 |
| Announced | 718 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 20% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, 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
- Romance
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Dating Sim, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Emotional, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 86,930 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.3k. 7 in 10 of the 331 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 718 games are announced against 344 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 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
To the Moon 2012 · $21M 
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 
Love Is All Around 2023 · $11M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | To the Moon | older | $9.99 | 69,549 95% | 2.1M | $21M (exactly $20,843,835) | Freebird Games |
| | 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 |
| | Love Is All Around | older | $9.99 | 36,203 93% | 1.1M | $11M (exactly $10,850,039) | intiny |
 | 魔女的夜宴 | older | $34.99 | 9,664 98% | 290k | $10M (exactly $10,144,301) | YUZUSOFT |
 | Revenge on gold diggers | $6.99 | 46,610 80% | 1.4M | $9.8M (exactly $9,774,117) | 前方工作室 | |
 | Until Then | older | $19.99 | 15,721 96% | 472k | $9.4M (exactly $9,427,884) | Polychroma Games |
 | There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension | older | $12.99 | 24,144 97% | 724k | $9.4M (exactly $9,408,917) | Draw Me A Pixel |
 | Sora no Kiseki the 1st | $59.99 | 5,205 97% | 156k | $9.4M (exactly $9,367,438) | Nihon Falcom | |
 | Lost Records: Bloom & Rage | $39.99 | 5,873 86% | 176k | $7.0M (exactly $7,045,838) | DON'T NOD | |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof | $19.99 | 5,881 91% | 176k | $3.5M (exactly $3,526,836) | Storytaco | |
 | 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) | |
 | Sovereign Tower | $19.99 | 3,087 93% | 93k | $1.9M (exactly $1,851,274) | WILD WITS GAMES | |
 | Kaiju Princess 2 | $17.99 | 3,107 96% | 93k | $1.7M (exactly $1,676,848) | PantyParrot | |
 | The Three Kingdoms: Rebirth | $19.99 | 2,564 91% | 77k | $1.5M (exactly $1,537,631) | 玛奇阿朵互娱科技, 山与海工作室 | |
 | 月华辉映之刻 | $11.99 | 4,227 89% | 127k | $1.5M (exactly $1,520,452) | 侠客狗工作室 | |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof season2 | $22.99 | 2,149 96% | 64k | $1.5M (exactly $1,482,165) | Storytaco |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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