Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + Thriller
Should I ship a Thriller Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Thriller
Of 240 developers who shipped a Thriller Interactive Fiction 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.. 373 more are announced, ×2.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×5.1 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $210k, ×458 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 373 games are announced against 138 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,422) |
| Top 25% | $14k (exactly $14,032) |
| Top 5% | $217k (exactly $217,453) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 240 |
| Released games | 564 |
| Announced | 373 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 45% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Thriller
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Visual Novel, Multiple Endings
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric, Dark
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 25,248 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 141 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 373 games are announced against 138 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.7 per shipper.
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
A Plague Tale: Requiem 2022 · $31M 
Heavy Rain 2020 · $16M 
The Invincible 2023 · $9.0M 
Unheard - Voices of Crime 2019 · $6.5M 
The Case of the Golden Idol 2022 · $5.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | A Plague Tale: Requiem | older | $49.99 | 20,797 90% | 624k | $31M (exactly $31,189,261) | Asobo Studio |
| | Heavy Rain | older | $19.99 | 26,503 85% | 795k | $16M (exactly $15,893,849) | Quantic Dream |
| | The Invincible | older | $29.99 | 10,055 87% | 302k | $9.0M (exactly $9,046,484) | Starward Industries |
| | Unheard - Voices of Crime | older | $6.99 | 30,978 95% | 929k | $6.5M (exactly $6,496,087) | NEXT Studios |
| | The Case of the Golden Idol | older | $17.99 | 9,794 97% | 294k | $5.3M (exactly $5,285,822) | Color Gray Games |
 | The Casting of Frank Stone™ | older | $29.99 | 5,580 62% | 167k | $5.0M (exactly $5,020,326) | Supermassive Games |
 | Nobody Wants to Die | older | $24.99 | 5,818 83% | 175k | $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) | Critical Hit Games |
 | The Operator | older | $13.99 | 8,515 91% | 255k | $3.6M (exactly $3,573,746) | Bureau 81 |
 | Late Shift | older | $14.99 | 7,762 86% | 233k | $3.5M (exactly $3,490,571) | CtrlMovie |
 | Homicipher | $13.99 | 7,821 96% | 235k | $3.3M (exactly $3,282,474) | 八名木Games | |
 | Five Hearts Under One Roof season2 | $22.99 | 2,149 96% | 64k | $1.5M (exactly $1,482,165) | Storytaco | |
 | SubZero | $9.99 | 2,719 92% | 82k | $815k (exactly $814,884) | Joy Media Limited | |
 | Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer | $19.99 | 1,244 95% | 37k | $746k (exactly $746,027) | Clifftop Games | |
 | One-Eyed Likho | $19.99 | 1,155 93% | 35k | $693k (exactly $692,654) | Morteshka | |
 | While We Wait Here | $4.99 | 2,344 89% | 70k | $351k (exactly $350,897) | Bad Vices Games | |
 | s.p.l.i.t | $2.99 | 3,862 92% | 116k | $346k (exactly $346,421) | Mike Klubnika | |
 | Blood Money: Lethal Eden | $8.99 | 1,262 91% | 38k | $340k (exactly $340,361) | 碧火互娱 | |
 | Evil School | $7.99 | 1,058 92% | 32k | $254k (exactly $253,603) | CineGame Interactive | |
 | Lost Wiki: Kozlovka | $4.99 | 1,634 96% | 49k | $245k (exactly $244,610) | yattytheman |
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.