Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Interactive Fiction
Should I ship a Time Manipulation Interactive Fiction?
Time Manipulation + Interactive Fiction
Only 18 developers shipped a Time Manipulation 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, Sovereign Tower, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 33 more are announced, ×2.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×5.0 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $420; 1 in 20 cleared $1.8M, ×3897 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 33 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $419 (exactly $419) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,558) |
| Top 5% | $1.9M (exactly $1,851,274) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 54 |
| Announced | 33 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 30% on the market, supply 250% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 28%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Time Manipulation, Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choose Your Own Adventure, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.66 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Comedy, Dark Humor
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.66 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 95% positive over 6,025 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $420. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 33 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Time Manipulation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DemonsFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + ModernFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
- + DetectivePoor odds
- + NoirPoor odds
Comparable games
Nobody Wants to Die 2024 · $4.4M 
Sovereign Tower 2026 · $1.9M 
DevilConnection 2025 · $975k 
Dinocop 2025 · $331k 
Eternal Threads 2022 · $326k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nobody Wants to Die | older | $24.99 | 5,818 83% | 175k | $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) | Critical Hit Games |
| | Sovereign Tower | $19.99 | 3,087 93% | 93k | $1.9M (exactly $1,851,274) | WILD WITS GAMES | |
| | DevilConnection | $16.66 | 1,951 98% | 59k | $975k (exactly $975,110) | ChaoGames | |
| | Dinocop | $14.99 | 737 96% | 22k | $331k (exactly $331,429) | Pieces Games | |
| | Eternal Threads | older | $19.99 | 543 87% | 16k | $326k (exactly $325,637) | Cosmonaut Studios |
 | Loop8: Summer of Gods | older | $39.99 | 107 45% | 3.2k | $128k (exactly $128,368) | Marvelous Inc. |
 | The Gap | older | $19.99 | 155 94% | 4.7k | $93k (exactly $92,954) | Label This |
 | Time Loader | older | $7.99 | 387 83% | 12k | $93k (exactly $92,764) | Flazm |
 | Writer's Rush | older | $5.99 | 402 74% | 12k | $72k (exactly $72,239) | Frogstorm |
 | Tin Hearts | older | $19.99 | 75 85% | 2.3k | $45k (exactly $44,978) | Rogue Sun |
 | A Better World | $11.99 | 54 64% | 1.6k | $19k (exactly $19,424) | Ludogram, ARTE France | |
 | Hank: Drowning On Dry Land | $2.99 | 140 95% | 4.2k | $13k (exactly $12,558) | My Next Games | |
 | Forgotten 23 | $12.99 | 14 92% | 420 | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) | KovalGames | |
 | Nazar | $9.99 | 12 75% | 360 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Eray Dinc Studio, Recontact Games | |
 | Detective Malinowski The Truth Will Be Revealed | $9.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $2.4k (exactly $2,398) | Game The Same | |
 | Wild Script: Nature | · EA | $4.99 | 16 93% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | Surdarium |
 | The Archive | $7.99 | 6 66% | 180 | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) | WILD Studios |
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.