Games › Sports › Sports + Interactive Fiction
Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Sports game?
Sports + Interactive Fiction
Only 19 developers shipped an Interactive Fiction Sports game 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, despelote, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 19 more are announced.
Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.5k, ×2.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $450. Revenue is up 205% on the market; 19 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $450 (exactly $450) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.5k (exactly $1,544) |
| Top 25% | $9.0k (exactly $8,982) |
| Top 5% | $455k (exactly $454,647) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 48 |
| Announced | 19 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 205% on the market, supply 10% 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.
- Sports
- 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
- Sports, Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Dating Sim, Simulation, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute, Dialogue Heavy
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 1,345 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. 8 in 10 of the 11 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 19 games are announced against 10 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Sports with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dynamic NarrationStrong odds
- + CraftingFair
- + Strategy RPGFair
- + SandboxFair
- + Split ScreenFair
- + Dating SimFair
- + Visual NovelFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
- + FMVFair
- + BikesFair
- + Immersive SimFair
- + Choices MatterFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | despelote | $14.99 | 1,011 95% | 30k | $455k (exactly $454,647) | Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena | |
| | Mad Experiments: Escape Room 2 | older | $12.99 | 69 65% | 2.1k | $27k (exactly $26,889) | PlayTogether Studio |
| | Football Drama | older | $11.99 | 72 58% | 2.2k | $26k (exactly $25,898) | Open Lab Games, Demigiant |
| | Sexercise Club | $7.99 | 99 77% | 3.0k | $24k (exactly $23,730) | Dreamers Workshop | |
| | Primal Hearts 2 | $24.99 | 23 95% | 690 | $17k (exactly $17,243) | Marmalade | |
| | Rebounding Life - Season 1 | $12.99 | 44 79% | 1.3k | $17k (exactly $17,147) | SuperWriter | |
| | Boeckham's Football Manager | $4.99 | 60 91% | 1.8k | $9.0k (exactly $8,982) | Bitbeast Games | |
| | GAME | $6.99 | 20 95% | 600 | $4.2k (exactly $4,194) | Joshua Roland | |
| | Skuf vs beer bottle party | $9.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | Gamesforgames | |
| | VR Run | older | $29.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $3.6k (exactly $3,599) | Elvio Lujan |
| | Coastal Summit Sports: College Athletics 27 | $9.99 | 12 25% | 360 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Coastal Summit Sports | |
| | MechaCap Arena | $7.99 | 11 90% | 330 | $2.6k (exactly $2,637) | Paraflux Games | |
| | MEMOLOGY: War of Memes | $0.99 | 52 76% | 1.6k | $1.5k (exactly $1,544) | Piece Of Voxel, Gamesforfarm, hannibaln… (Piece Of Voxel, Gamesforfarm, hannibalnotdead) |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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