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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Space Sim?
Space Sim + Interactive Fiction
Only 13 developers shipped an Interactive Fiction Space Sim 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, Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $90, ×0.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50. 17 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper, while revenue is up 6890% on the market.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $90 (exactly $90) |
| Top 25% | $3.5k (exactly $3,506) |
| Top 5% | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 39 |
| Announced | 17 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 up 6890% on the market, supply 15% 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.
- Space Sim
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Space Sim, Interactive Fiction; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Management, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 8 games average 78% positive over 4,274 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 17 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Space Sim with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DestructionFair
- + Female ProtagonistFair
- + Tactical RPGFair
- + WarFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + SportsFair
- + DiplomacyLong shot
- + MilitaryPoor odds
- + Online Co-OpPoor odds
- + Strategy RPGPoor odds
- + SandboxPoor odds
- + Colony SimPoor odds
Comparable games
Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown 2026 · $4.4M 
The Fermi Paradox 2021 · EA · $545k 
Lightracer Spark 2023 · $378k 
Interstellaria 2015 · $106k 
Ceiba 2023 · $53k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown | $34.99 | 4,162 79% | 125k | $4.4M (exactly $4,368,851) | Gamexcite | |
| | The Fermi Paradox | · EA older | $18.99 | 956 76% | 29k | $545k (exactly $544,633) | Anomaly Games |
| | Lightracer Spark | older | $12.99 | 970 83% | 29k | $378k (exactly $378,009) | Smartmelon Games |
| | Interstellaria | older | $9.99 | 353 53% | 11k | $106k (exactly $105,794) | Coldrice Games LLC |
| | Ceiba | older | $6.99 | 255 94% | 7.7k | $53k (exactly $53,474) | Wirion, 7DOTS |
 | Lunar Ascendant | $14.99 | 86 44% | 2.6k | $39k (exactly $38,674) | Darts Games | |
 | A Long Journey to an Uncertain End | older | $24.99 | 33 75% | 990 | $25k (exactly $24,740) | Crispy Creative |
 | Insiders | older | $13.99 | 40 80% | 1.2k | $17k (exactly $16,788) | ANG People s.r.o. |
 | General Horse and the Package of Doom | older | $9.99 | 54 98% | 1.6k | $16k (exactly $16,184) | Studio spektar, Porcupine Parkour |
 | The Last Hope | older | $1.99 | 268 46% | 8.0k | $16k (exactly $16,000) | Balti Calarasi |
 | Become Emperor! My Trillion Beauties Planet Empire | $39.99 | 6 16% | 180 | $7.2k (exactly $7,198) | 万亿美女星球工程设计研究院, Trillion Beauties Planet… (万亿美女星球工程设计研究院, Trillion Beauties Planet Engineering Design Institute) | |
 | Destination Gemini | $8.99 | 13 100% | 390 | $3.5k (exactly $3,506) | Hubert Cachat | |
 | ASTROSMASH 1981 | $4.99 | 4 0% | 120 | $599 (exactly $599) | BBG Entertainment GmbH | |
 | Interstellar Nomad | $4.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Metadarkverse | |
 | Retro Wave | $2.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $90 (exactly $90) | cagri burak demir | |
 | FULE | $1.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $60 (exactly $60) | Null Reality | |
 | Funorbit | · EA | $5.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Aeroenix |
 | Versetender | $1.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Helaven Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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