Games › Investigation › Investigation + Underwater
Should I ship an Underwater Investigation game?
Investigation + Underwater
Only 9 developers shipped an Underwater Investigation 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, Dreamcore, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 16 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
Only 4 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $1.8k against a market of $630. 16 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $479 (exactly $479) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,799) |
| Top 25% | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) |
| Top 5% | $1.0M (exactly $1,014,096) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 30 |
| Announced | 16 |
| Effort | 5 / 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 445% on the market, supply 20% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Investigation
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Underwater
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Investigation
- Price point
- $6.99 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 $17.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 2,811 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $480. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 16 games are announced against 4 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Investigation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Escape RoomFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TriviaLong shot
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + JRPGPoor odds
- + HistoricalPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + GothicPoor odds
- + LovecraftianPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + Card GamePoor odds
- + SciencePoor odds
Comparable games
Dreamcore 2025 · $1.0M 
Dreamcore: Rabbit Hole 2026 · $71k 
subROV : Underwater Discoveries 2022 · EA · $38k 
Debris 2017 · $29k 
The Trench 2022 · $19k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Dreamcore | $17.99 | 1,879 89% | 56k | $1.0M (exactly $1,014,096) | Montraluz | |
| | Dreamcore: Rabbit Hole | $5.99 | 396 72% | 12k | $71k (exactly $71,161) | Ankoku | |
| | subROV : Underwater Discoveries | · EA older | $19.99 | 63 90% | 1.9k | $38k (exactly $37,781) | sqr3lab |
| | Debris | older | $9.99 | 97 60% | 2.9k | $29k (exactly $29,071) | Moonray Studios |
| | The Trench | older | $3.99 | 160 85% | 4.8k | $19k (exactly $19,152) | Omar Chapa Hernandez, Omar Chapa Moyers |
 | The Shore VR | older | $11.99 | 50 34% | 1.5k | $18k (exactly $17,985) | Ares Dragonis |
 | Deep Beyond | older | $8.99 | 62 87% | 1.9k | $17k (exactly $16,721) | Avix Games |
 | Stardiver | older | $11.99 | 33 51% | 990 | $12k (exactly $11,870) | Green Planet Games |
 | Pact of Joy | older | $6.99 | 37 91% | 1.1k | $7.8k (exactly $7,759) | Just Sauce Studio |
 | You Can Save Everyone | older | $5.99 | 34 88% | 1.0k | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) | Caleb Draper |
 | LOGBOOK: Beneath the Storm | $13.99 | 13 38% | 390 | $5.5k (exactly $5,456) | Pink Iceberg Games | |
 | Sonar Scout | $5.99 | 26 100% | 780 | $4.7k (exactly $4,672) | Dan Schumacher, Hjalte Tagmose, Neil Do… (Dan Schumacher, Hjalte Tagmose, Neil Doppelmayr, Christoph Englert, Pontus Liljekvist, Hugo Roque) | |
 | Undefined Survivors -アンディファインド サバイバーズ- | · EA | $29.99 | 2 0% | 60 | $1.8k (exactly $1,799) | Runpath Inc. |
 | SERPENT AT THE VERNISSAGE | $6.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) | a trip by daniel bock | |
 | Killer Depths | $7.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $479 (exactly $479) | Stardust Smithy | |
 | Dark Sea | $0.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $238 (exactly $238) | DarkSignal Studios | |
 | Treasures of the Sunken Ship | · EA | $2.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | SchizoID game studio |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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