Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + Superhero
Should I ship a Superhero Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Superhero
Only 19 developers shipped a Superhero Interactive Fiction 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, Nova Hearts, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 22 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $240, ×0.2 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50. Revenue is down 100% on the market, with 22 games announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $240 (exactly $240) |
| Top 25% | $4.5k (exactly $4,492) |
| Top 5% | $50k (exactly $50,375) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 19 |
| Released games | 54 |
| Announced | 22 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 down 100% on the market, supply 300% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Superhero
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choose Your Own Adventure, Choices Matter, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Text-Based, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 352 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. All of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 22 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Invincible Presents: Atom Eve | older | $9.99 | 550 96% | 17k | $165k (exactly $164,835) | Terrible Posture Games |
| | Fallen Hero: Retribution | older | $11.99 | 415 97% | 12k | $149k (exactly $149,276) | Hosted Games |
| | Fallen Hero: Rebirth | older | $6.99 | 459 96% | 14k | $96k (exactly $96,252) | Hosted Games |
| | Glowing Stones : Heroes' Awakening | · EA older | $11.99 | 259 91% | 7.8k | $93k (exactly $93,162) | MoonLightDevCorp |
| | Heroes Rise: The Prodigy | older | $4.99 | 381 79% | 11k | $57k (exactly $57,036) | Choice of Games |
| | Nova Hearts | $19.99 | 84 67% | 2.5k | $50k (exactly $50,375) | Lightbulb Crew | |
| | Never Meet Your Heroes | older | $13.99 | 107 59% | 3.2k | $45k (exactly $44,908) | ITK |
| | Community College Hero: Trial by Fire | older | $4.99 | 245 84% | 7.4k | $37k (exactly $36,676) | Hosted Games |
| | Heroes Rise: The Hero Project | older | $5.99 | 166 78% | 5.0k | $30k (exactly $29,830) | Choice of Games |
| | Pixel Puzzle Makeout League | older | $14.99 | 66 90% | 2.0k | $30k (exactly $29,680) | Rude Ghost |
| | Hank: Drowning On Dry Land | $2.99 | 140 95% | 4.2k | $13k (exactly $12,558) | My Next Games | |
| | Giggle Night: Trixie's Trial | · EA | $19.99 | 16 81% | 480 | $9.6k (exactly $9,595) | Anaximanes Entertainment |
| | Man of Steal (Nymphs) | $14.99 | 20 50% | 600 | $9.0k (exactly $8,994) | Nymphs | |
| | Heroes of Tomorrow: Hidden Potential | $7.99 | 32 75% | 960 | $7.7k (exactly $7,670) | Choice of Games | |
| | The Last Scion | $5.99 | 25 84% | 750 | $4.5k (exactly $4,492) | Choice of Games | |
| | Dawn of Heroes | $7.99 | 14 64% | 420 | $3.4k (exactly $3,356) | Hosted Games | |
| | Posthuman: Guardians vs PSION | $6.99 | 14 42% | 420 | $2.9k (exactly $2,936) | Choice of Games | |
| | Professor mother-in-law begged me to get pregnant | $9.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | CHEN JIAWEI | |
| | Agent 9 | $4.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $599 (exactly $599) | Spade 2 Studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.