Do I ship it?

Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + War

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a War Interactive Fiction?

Interactive Fiction + War

Of 21 developers who shipped a War 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.. 38 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $3.7k, ×6.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $1.5M, ×2448 the market median. Revenue is up 85% on the market; 38 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 85% on the market, 38 announced, ×3.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Interactive Fiction + War
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 21
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $17k → $2.3k → $3.7k → $1.5k → $1.5M (still earning) → $2.8k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Interactive Fiction + War: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 21
Bottom 30% $898 (exactly $898)
Median $3.7k (exactly $3,742)
Top 25% $100k (exactly $100,150)
Top 5% $1.5M (exactly $1,537,631)
Developers, 2 yr 21
Released games 74
Announced 38
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $6.99

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 up 85% on the market, supply 10% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 23%, 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.

Interactive Fiction
effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
War
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Interactive Fiction; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Multiple Endings, RPG
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Cinematic, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 73% positive over 16,851 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $900, median $3.7k, 1 in 4 over $100k, 1 in 20 over $1.5M.

3 in 10 developers made under $900. 8 in 10 of the 13 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 38 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Interactive Fiction with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + FMVFair164 devs · median $36k · 162 announced
  2. + Match 3Fair12 devs · median $4.8k · 7 announced
  3. + VampiresFair41 devs · median $1.8k · 52 announced
  4. + SportsFair19 devs · median $1.5k · 19 announced
  5. + IncrementalFair160 devs · median $1.4k · 144 announced
  6. + PiratesFair7 devs · median $1.3k · 7 announced
  7. + DrivingFair12 devs · median $1.2k · 13 announced
  8. + DiplomacyFair12 devs · median $1.0k · 17 announced
  9. + Perma DeathFair27 devs · median $959 · 28 announced
  10. + Board GameFair9 devs · median $657 · 12 announced
  11. + SnowFair10 devs · median $478 · 12 announced
  12. + BuildingFair17 devs · median $449 · 20 announced

All 169 pairs on the Interactive Fiction page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall 2026 · $3.0M The Three Kingdoms: Rebirth 2026 · $1.5M Heads Will Roll: Reforged 2023 · $1.2M Shao Song I 2026 · $1.2M Conquer the world 2025 · $778k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall $11.99 8,227 58% 247k $3.0M (exactly $2,959,252) 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame)
The Three Kingdoms: Rebirth $19.99 2,564 91% 77k $1.5M (exactly $1,537,631) 玛奇阿朵互娱科技, 山与海工作室
Heads Will Roll: Reforged older $24.99 1,642 82% 49k $1.2M (exactly $1,231,007) 1917 Studios
Shao Song I $14.99 2,671 81% 80k $1.2M (exactly $1,201,149) 互动之星, 猫眼娱乐
Conquer the world $12.99 1,996 92% 60k $778k (exactly $777,841) 互动之星
The Caribou Trail $12.99 636 90% 19k $248k (exactly $247,849) Unreliable Narrators, Manavoid Entertai… (Unreliable Narrators, Manavoid Entertainment)
The Bible older $4.99 965 87% 29k $144k (exactly $144,460) Bible Games
A Foreign World $19.99 167 84% 5.0k $100k (exactly $100,150) HighbornTiger
Arcadie: Second-Born older $7.99 389 95% 12k $93k (exactly $93,243) Arcadie & Utopie
Letters of Bernard Thorne $9.99 179 97% 5.4k $54k (exactly $53,646) Korean Linguistics Lab
蜀汉再临：源起 Restart ShuHan Dynasty:Origin $3.99 357 76% 11k $43k (exactly $42,733) 浙江海蕊盈信网络科技有限公司
Fell in love with the Nobility girl As a member of the rebel organization $6.99 28 78% 840 $5.9k (exactly $5,872) selenophobia
The Witch In The Woods $4.99 26 84% 780 $3.9k (exactly $3,892) Dream Nyght Studio

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