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Should I ship a Typing Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Typing
Of 44 developers who shipped a Typing 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.. 70 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 1 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.3k, ×11 the market's $120 for a 1 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $470k, ×4013 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 70 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $539 (exactly $539) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.3k (exactly $1,256) |
| Top 25% | $16k (exactly $16,399) |
| Top 5% | $478k (exactly $477,589) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 44 |
| Released games | 120 |
| Announced | 70 |
| Effort | 1 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $5.49 |
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 up 35% on the market, supply 115% 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.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Typing
- effort 1 / 10 · high · keyboard input against a word list
What it takes
- Effort
- 1 / 10 · text and UI only
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction, Typing; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Immersive Sim, Puzzle
- Price point
- $5.49 typical · top 25% priced $13.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich, Text-Based
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $13.99 or above; the middle game at $5.49.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 17,320 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 7 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 70 games are announced against 30 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Interactive Fiction with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + VampiresFair
- + SportsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PiratesFair
- + DrivingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Board GameFair
- + SnowFair
- + BuildingFair
Comparable games
Homicipher 2024 · $3.3M 
Her Story 2015 · $2.5M 
Home Safety Hotline 2024 · $1.2M 
Buddy Simulator 1984 2021 · $1.1M 
S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH 2025 · $975k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Homicipher | $13.99 | 7,821 96% | 235k | $3.3M (exactly $3,282,474) | 八名木Games | |
| | Her Story | older | $9.99 | 8,367 89% | 251k | $2.5M (exactly $2,507,590) | Sam Barlow |
| | Home Safety Hotline | older | $14.99 | 2,763 90% | 83k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,521) | Night Signal Entertainment |
| | Buddy Simulator 1984 | older | $9.99 | 3,791 93% | 114k | $1.1M (exactly $1,136,163) | Not a Sailor Studios |
| | S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH | $13.99 | 2,324 90% | 70k | $975k (exactly $975,383) | U0U Games | |
 | 7 Days to End with You | older | $7.99 | 3,327 87% | 100k | $797k (exactly $797,482) | Lizardry |
 | HackHub - Ultimate Hacker Simulator | $16.99 | 937 88% | 28k | $478k (exactly $477,589) | HotBunny | |
 | s.p.l.i.t | $2.99 | 3,862 92% | 116k | $346k (exactly $346,421) | Mike Klubnika | |
 | The Crimson Diamond | older | $14.99 | 653 96% | 20k | $294k (exactly $293,654) | Julia Minamata |
 | Uncover the Smoking Gun | older | $19.99 | 414 96% | 12k | $248k (exactly $248,276) | ReLU Games, Inc. |
 | Dyping Escape | $9.99 | 544 91% | 16k | $163k (exactly $163,037) | Heaviside Creations | |
 | Hymer 2000 | $4.99 | 1,031 89% | 31k | $154k (exactly $154,341) | doBell | |
 | CaseCracker3 | $12.99 | 359 84% | 11k | $140k (exactly $139,902) | BlackRobe | |
 | Pain Pain Go Away! | $9.99 | 100 73% | 3.0k | $30k (exactly $29,970) | Lorebard | |
 | S-mail | $2.50 | 286 90% | 8.6k | $21k (exactly $21,450) | S-mail制作组 | |
 | Gumshoe Detective Agency: The First Case | $9.99 | 56 73% | 1.7k | $17k (exactly $16,783) | Birdy Interactive |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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