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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Shoot 'Em Up?
Shoot 'Em Up + Interactive Fiction
Only 5 developers shipped an Interactive Fiction Shoot 'Em Up 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, BLACKWOOD, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 13 more are announced, ×13 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 3 / 10 build.
Only 1 developer shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $960 against a market of $480. 13 games are announced.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $959 (exactly $959) |
| Top 25% | $106k (exactly $105,794) |
| Top 5% | $424k (exactly $423,580) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 5 |
| Released games | 30 |
| Announced | 13 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 75% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Shoot 'Em Up
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Shoot 'Em Up, Interactive Fiction
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 76% positive over 2,005 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 13 games are announced against 1 developer who shipped in the last year, ×13 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Shoot 'Em Up with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FaithFair
- + RomanceFair
- + VampiresFair
- + Quick-Time EventsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Tower DefenseFair
- + Resource ManagementFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + SwordplayLong shot
- + MusicPoor odds
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
Comparable games
BLACKWOOD 2026 · $424k 
Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion 2025 · $106k 
Peppa Pig: World Adventures 2023 · $84k 
Spooky Station 2019 · $52k 
天降锦鲤 ~ My Lucky Koi 2019 · $37k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BLACKWOOD | $24.99 | 565 46% | 17k | $424k (exactly $423,580) | AttritoM7 Productions | |
| | Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion | $9.99 | 353 93% | 11k | $106k (exactly $105,794) | Bubby Darkstar | |
| | Peppa Pig: World Adventures | older | $39.99 | 70 81% | 2.1k | $84k (exactly $83,979) | Petoons Studio |
| | Spooky Station | older | $4.99 | 345 88% | 10k | $52k (exactly $51,646) | Coletivo Vaca Roxa, Vee, JoyMasher, PKO… (Coletivo Vaca Roxa, Vee, JoyMasher, PKO Game Studio, Spookids Team, Calangames, Expresso Studios, Pastel Studios, Heavy Sheep, LASTONE, Asteristic Game Studio) |
| | 天降锦鲤 ~ My Lucky Koi | older | $4.99 | 245 93% | 7.4k | $37k (exactly $36,676) | V.P. TEAM |
 | Double | older | $5.99 | 182 82% | 5.5k | $33k (exactly $32,705) | Tomato Fantasy Games |
 | Sierra Ops - Space Strategy Visual Novel | older | $14.99 | 42 80% | 1.3k | $19k (exactly $18,887) | Innomen Team |
 | Insiders | older | $13.99 | 40 80% | 1.2k | $17k (exactly $16,788) | ANG People s.r.o. |
 | ASTROSMASH | older | $14.99 | 18 77% | 540 | $8.1k (exactly $8,095) | BBG Entertainment GmbH |
 | Endless Furry Killer 2020 | older | $0.99 | 145 88% | 4.4k | $4.3k (exactly $4,306) | Tegridy Made Games |
 | Armed Animals RPG | $15.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $959 (exactly $959) | Strejda Jenda Productions | |
 | ASTROSMASH 1981 | $4.99 | 4 0% | 120 | $599 (exactly $599) | BBG Entertainment GmbH | |
 | GPU Inferno | $0.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $89 (exactly $89) | Moriba |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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