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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Time Management game?
Time Management + Interactive Fiction
Of 71 developers who shipped an Interactive Fiction Time Management 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.. 167 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $4.2k, ×8.9 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $680; 1 in 20 cleared $230k, ×489 the market median. Revenue is down 70% on the market; 167 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $675 (exactly $675) |
|---|---|
| Median | $4.2k (exactly $4,216) |
| Top 25% | $34k (exactly $33,592) |
| Top 5% | $232k (exactly $232,084) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 71 |
| Released games | 176 |
| Announced | 167 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 70% on the market, supply 55% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 19%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Time Management
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Time Management, Interactive Fiction; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Adventure, Dating Sim
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Anime, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 13,696 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $680. 7 in 10 of the 40 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 167 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Time Management with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dungeon CrawlerFair
- + ProgrammingFair
- + Inventory ManagementFair
- + AgricultureFair
- + Time TravelFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + LootFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
Comparable games
School Days 2026 · $2.7M 
Lay a Beauty to Rest: The Darkness Peach Blossom Spring 2021 · $2.6M 
Kaiju Princess 2 2024 · $1.7M 
Retirement Simulator 2022 · EA · $1.6M 
A Perfect Day 2022 · $1.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | School Days | $14.99 | 6,023 77% | 181k | $2.7M (exactly $2,708,543) | 白雨工作室 | |
| | Lay a Beauty to Rest: The Darkness Peach Blossom Spring | older | $13.99 | 6,310 95% | 189k | $2.6M (exactly $2,648,307) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) |
| | Kaiju Princess 2 | $17.99 | 3,107 96% | 93k | $1.7M (exactly $1,676,848) | PantyParrot | |
| | Retirement Simulator | · EA older | $13.99 | 3,757 34% | 113k | $1.6M (exactly $1,576,813) | DoubleThink Studio |
| | A Perfect Day | older | $19.99 | 1,733 84% | 52k | $1.0M (exactly $1,039,280) | Perfect Day Studio |
 | Aliya: Timelink | older | $2.99 | 8,587 97% | 258k | $770k (exactly $770,254) | TDGame Studio |
 | Green Hell VR | older | $19.99 | 1,143 57% | 34k | $685k (exactly $685,457) | Incuvo |
 | The Price Of Flesh | older | $14.99 | 1,038 96% | 31k | $467k (exactly $466,789) | Gatobob |
 | Corruption Town | · EA | $14.99 | 992 88% | 30k | $446k (exactly $446,102) | BoredBasmati |
 | Fallen Shinobi SS. | older | $14.99 | 971 92% | 29k | $437k (exactly $436,659) | marron☆marron |
 | Midnight Sin | $19.99 | 387 82% | 12k | $232k (exactly $232,084) | Faerin Games | |
 | Asbury Pines | · EA | $12.99 | 558 90% | 17k | $217k (exactly $217,453) | Chaystar Unlimited LLC |
 | Breaker of fatalism | $10.99 | 613 88% | 18k | $202k (exactly $202,106) | showplay entertainment | |
 | Kurage Life | $10.99 | 588 90% | 18k | $194k (exactly $193,864) | TAIL-AKI | |
 | Mindcop | $14.99 | 413 94% | 12k | $186k (exactly $185,726) | Andre Gareis | |
 | SPITE: Taking the Boss's Wife, Sister and Mother | $7.99 | 770 82% | 23k | $185k (exactly $184,569) | DIAMOND VISUAL | |
 | Memory of Memorie : A Chill Story | $11.99 | 245 98% | 7.4k | $88k (exactly $88,126) | BeXide Inc. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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