Do I ship it?

Games › Trading › Trading + Interactive Fiction

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Trading Interactive Fiction?

Trading + Interactive Fiction

Only 11 developers shipped a Trading 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, Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 19 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $540, ×1.1 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $72k, ×153 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 19 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.1 times the market baseline, revenue too few recent games to read momentum, 19 announced, ×2.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Trading + Interactive Fiction
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 11

not enough cohorts to draw

Outcomes for Trading + Interactive Fiction: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 11
Bottom 30% $300 (exactly $300)
Median $538 (exactly $538)
Top 25% $12k (exactly $12,163)
Top 5% $73k (exactly $72,887)
Developers, 2 yr 11
Released games 25
Announced 19
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 350% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 16%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Trading
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Interactive Fiction
effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Trading, Interactive Fiction
Price point
$4.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 393 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $540, 1 in 4 over $12k, 1 in 20 over $72k.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 19 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Trading with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + MiningFair32 devs · median $12k · 33 announced
  2. + Score AttackFair13 devs · median $600 · 13 announced
  3. + MMORPGPoor odds6 devs · median $206k · 42 announced
  4. + Character CustomizationPoor odds26 devs · median $60k · 137 announced
  5. + Online Co-OpPoor odds23 devs · median $47k · 84 announced
  6. + Co-opPoor odds24 devs · median $47k · 82 announced
  7. + FlightPoor odds6 devs · median $36k · 21 announced
  8. + SportsPoor odds11 devs · median $34k · 14 announced
  9. + CollectathonPoor odds28 devs · median $30k · 65 announced
  10. + PhysicsPoor odds23 devs · median $27k · 71 announced
  11. + DrivingPoor odds23 devs · median $24k · 48 announced
  12. + LootPoor odds23 devs · median $23k · 60 announced

All 109 pairs on the Trading page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Slaves of Rome 2024 · $1.4M Alchemist Simulator 2020 · $144k Interstellaria 2015 · $106k Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime 2026 · $73k This Merchant Life 2019 · $57k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Slaves of Rome older $24.99 1,924 73% 58k $1.4M (exactly $1,442,423) Biggus Diccus Games
Alchemist Simulator older $12.99 370 76% 11k $144k (exactly $144,189) Art Games Studio S.A.
Interstellaria older $9.99 353 53% 11k $106k (exactly $105,794) Coldrice Games LLC
Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime $16.99 143 98% 4.3k $73k (exactly $72,887) Bonte Avond
This Merchant Life older $10.99 174 74% 5.2k $57k (exactly $57,368) Inexplicable Games
Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning older $4.99 322 84% 9.7k $48k (exactly $48,203) Entertainment Forge
Apocalypse: The Last RV · EA $4.99 159 68% 4.8k $24k (exactly $23,802) 光年切片工作室
Ace Campus Club older $14.99 36 52% 1.1k $16k (exactly $16,189) ZiX Solutions
DOUGH: A Crime Strategy RPG · EA older $14.99 32 71% 960 $14k (exactly $14,390) OMNIA
Survive or Thrive older $1.99 233 98% 7.0k $14k (exactly $13,910) Randumb Studios
Magical Greenhouse $6.99 58 93% 1.7k $12k (exactly $12,163) Mgtt Studio
Destination Gemini $8.99 13 100% 390 $3.5k (exactly $3,506) Hubert Cachat
Road To Wealth $9.99 5 60% 150 $1.5k (exactly $1,498) Konithir
A Good Deed On Harris Avenue $2.99 6 83% 180 $538 (exactly $538) Daniel H. May
CLEANING.INC $2.99 5 60% 150 $449 (exactly $449) Alex Falx
Signal Drift $9.99 1 100% 30 $300 (exactly $300) Alcove Research LLC
All Time High $3.99 1 100% 30 $120 (exactly $120) 3Cats Studio
When It Falls $1.99 2 100% 60 $119 (exactly $119) Team Stargazer

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.