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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Tactical game?
Tactical + Interactive Fiction
Of 25 developers who shipped an Interactive Fiction Tactical game 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.. 29 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $450, ×0.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $60; 1 in 20 cleared $23k, ×38 the market median. Revenue is down 60% on the market; 29 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $60 (exactly $60) |
|---|---|
| Median | $450 (exactly $450) |
| Top 25% | $6.2k (exactly $6,224) |
| Top 5% | $24k (exactly $23,676) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 25 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 29 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 down 60% on the market, supply 80% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 5%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical
- 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
- Tactical, Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Immersive Sim, Management, Simulation
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.95 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.95 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 4,492 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $60. All of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown 2026 · $4.4M 
Interstellaria 2015 · $106k 
Agarta 2022 · $45k 
Sex Vault: The Lust-Tec Project 2026 · $24k 
Obscure Chronicle of Dynasty 2023 · EA · $14k | 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 | |
| | Interstellaria | older | $9.99 | 353 53% | 11k | $106k (exactly $105,794) | Coldrice Games LLC |
| | Agarta | older | $2.99 | 498 71% | 15k | $45k (exactly $44,671) | FF Digital |
| | Sex Vault: The Lust-Tec Project | $9.99 | 79 83% | 2.4k | $24k (exactly $23,676) | Kinky Business Group | |
| | Obscure Chronicle of Dynasty | · EA older | $6.66 | 68 94% | 2.0k | $14k (exactly $13,586) | IsaacZhang |
 | Simp: Leveling Up on a Dating App | $9.99 | 38 65% | 1.1k | $11k (exactly $11,389) | MONSTIVE | |
 | Under the Disco Lights - 80's Bar Simulator | $9.99 | 34 85% | 1.0k | $10k (exactly $10,190) | Efsus Games | |
 | Yamizome Liberator | $34.95 | 9 66% | 270 | $9.4k (exactly $9,436) | Escu:de | |
 | Boeckham's Football Manager | $4.99 | 60 91% | 1.8k | $9.0k (exactly $8,982) | Bitbeast Games | |
 | Rewrite - DYH | older | $9.99 | 27 100% | 810 | $8.1k (exactly $8,092) | DYH |
 | がんばれ！受付嬢2 ～Stardust Liberate～ | $3.99 | 52 100% | 1.6k | $6.2k (exactly $6,224) | OBTcompany | |
 | The Siege of Jeomdo | $8.99 | 22 100% | 660 | $5.9k (exactly $5,933) | Studio Hip Sword | |
 | The Three Kingdoms of Shadows: Xuzhou | $6.99 | 23 82% | 690 | $4.8k (exactly $4,823) | 鹏砚 | |
 | Fortune Paradox | $4.99 | 13 84% | 390 | $1.9k (exactly $1,946) | StoneBreaker Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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