Games › Third-Person Shooter › Third-Person Shooter + Interactive Fiction
Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Third-Person Shooter?
Third-Person Shooter + Interactive Fiction
Only 17 developers shipped an Interactive Fiction Third-Person Shooter 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.. 15 more are announced.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.9k, ×2.6 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $420k, ×283 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 15 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $536 (exactly $536) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) |
| Top 25% | $10k (exactly $10,343) |
| Top 5% | $424k (exactly $423,580) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 32 |
| Announced | 15 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| 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 down 80% on the market, supply 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Third-Person Shooter
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Third-Person Shooter, Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action-Adventure, Adventure, Shooter
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Third Person, 3D, Atmospheric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 73% positive over 1,608 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 15 games are announced against 8 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Third-Person Shooter with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + RhythmStrong odds
- + WesternFair
- + CollectathonLong shot
- + Time ManagementLong shot
- + Walking SimulatorLong shot
- + Class-BasedPoor odds
- + Creature CollectorPoor odds
- + DinosaursPoor odds
- + MechsPoor odds
- + Alternate HistoryPoor odds
- + Level EditorPoor odds
- + CraftingPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BLACKWOOD | $24.99 | 565 46% | 17k | $424k (exactly $423,580) | AttritoM7 Productions | |
| | Many Nights a Whisper | $2.99 | 699 94% | 21k | $63k (exactly $62,700) | Deconstructeam, Selkie Harbour | |
| | Miss!Don't Affect my Rank | $4.99 | 205 76% | 6.2k | $31k (exactly $30,688) | Peach Fox Game | |
| | Lurking Danger | $11.99 | 49 65% | 1.5k | $18k (exactly $17,625) | Farelas | |
| | Crowhille - Detective Case Files VR | older | $5.99 | 90 88% | 2.7k | $16k (exactly $16,173) | Saturn VR, NipsApp Gaming Software |
| | Alter Evo | $14.99 | 23 95% | 690 | $10k (exactly $10,343) | Technical Fiction | |
| | Diddy | $7.99 | 24 62% | 720 | $5.8k (exactly $5,753) | GalaxyVerse | |
| | Sanguine | · EA | $12.99 | 12 91% | 360 | $4.7k (exactly $4,676) | Ryan Berg |
| | The Mansion of The Macabre | $14.99 | 10 20% | 300 | $4.5k (exactly $4,497) | Team Tatou | |
| | Skuf vs beer bottle party | $9.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $3.9k (exactly $3,896) | Gamesforgames | |
| | Intelektronica | · EA | $9.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) | RingoGames |
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.