Games › Investigation › Investigation + Trivia
Should I ship an Investigation Trivia game?
Investigation + Trivia
Only 8 developers shipped an Investigation Trivia game 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, MAELSTROM LEGACY: The Tesla Mystery, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 9 more are announced.
Verdict: long shot, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $220, ×0.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, but 1 in 20 cleared $11k, ×25 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 9 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $215 (exactly $215) |
| Top 25% | $4.5k (exactly $4,491) |
| Top 5% | $12k (exactly $11,869) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 8 |
| Released games | 28 |
| Announced | 9 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 600% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Investigation
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Trivia
- effort 1 / 10 · high · question bank and scoring
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Investigation, Trivia
- Price point
- $4.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $11.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 78% positive over 529 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Investigation with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Escape RoomFair
- + IdlerFair
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + GothicPoor odds
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Card GamePoor odds
- + SciencePoor odds
- + NoirPoor odds
Comparable games
Chinatown Detective Agency 2022 · $89k 
Midnight Monitor: Aldercourt 2024 · $18k 
LiMiT's Escape Room Games 2022 · $12k 
LiMiT's Escape Room Games 2 2023 · $12k 
MAELSTROM LEGACY: The Tesla Mystery 2025 · $12k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Chinatown Detective Agency | older | $24.99 | 119 70% | 3.6k | $89k (exactly $89,214) | General Interactive Co. |
| | Midnight Monitor: Aldercourt | older | $4.99 | 117 91% | 3.5k | $18k (exactly $17,515) | Viexi Games |
| | LiMiT's Escape Room Games | older | $3.99 | 104 66% | 3.1k | $12k (exactly $12,449) | Marco Hirschfeld |
| | LiMiT's Escape Room Games 2 | older | $11.99 | 34 94% | 1.0k | $12k (exactly $12,230) | Marco Hirschfeld |
| | MAELSTROM LEGACY: The Tesla Mystery | $10.99 | 36 69% | 1.1k | $12k (exactly $11,869) | Wistfulware | |
 | Stick Scholars | $4.99 | 30 90% | 900 | $4.5k (exactly $4,491) | JaDropping Games | |
 | Couch Detective | · EA | $4.99 | 19 57% | 570 | $2.8k (exactly $2,844) | Gamtropy |
 | VOENKOMAT | older | $1.99 | 46 91% | 1.4k | $2.7k (exactly $2,746) | pvt. Singer |
 | Chat Guess Games | older | $3.99 | 20 95% | 600 | $2.4k (exactly $2,394) | MarkMakesGames |
 | Korean Adventures in Russia | · EA older | $9.99 | 4 0% | 120 | $1.2k (exactly $1,199) | TonAme, Timo |
 | Guess The Sound | $1.79 | 4 75% | 120 | $215 (exactly $215) | Pelion Games | |
 | Meanings hidden in plain sight | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | bmbchp | |
 | Niji Protocol | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Crispy Fried Tofu Studios | |
 | O Monumento | $4.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $150 (exactly $150) | Allun | |
 | Go! 408 Differences: SPOT THEM ALL!!! | $7.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Nekomura Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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