Games › Investigation › Investigation + War
Should I ship a War Investigation game?
Investigation + War
Only 5 developers shipped a War 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, Lavender Quartz 境界秤動, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 11 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
Only 3 developers shipped this in the last year, under the 5 a verdict needs; over 2 years the middle one made $1.1k against a market of $630. 11 games are announced.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $898 (exactly $898) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,134) |
| Top 25% | $2.2k (exactly $2,246) |
| Top 5% | $108k (exactly $107,910) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 5 |
| Released games | 25 |
| Announced | 11 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 50% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 20%, 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
- War
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Investigation
- Price point
- $5.99 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 81% positive over 1,850 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 11 games are announced against 3 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sigma Theory: Global Cold War | older | $17.99 | 892 77% | 27k | $481k (exactly $481,412) | Mi-Clos Studio, Goblinz Studio, FibreTi… (Mi-Clos Studio, Goblinz Studio, FibreTigre) |
| | Lavender Quartz 境界秤動 | $11.99 | 300 95% | 9.0k | $108k (exactly $107,910) | Edanoue, Inc. | |
| | Svoboda 1945: Liberation | older | $15.99 | 145 98% | 4.4k | $70k (exactly $69,556) | Charles Games |
| | Doomsday Robot Girl | older | $8.99 | 216 82% | 6.5k | $58k (exactly $58,255) | Sunspot |
| | Border Conqueror | older | $6.99 | 104 53% | 3.1k | $22k (exactly $21,809) | Kanoe |
| | Field Hospital: Dr. Taylor's Story | older | $4.99 | 105 89% | 3.2k | $16k (exactly $15,718) | Gard Interactive |
| | MINDMIST | older | $7.99 | 30 73% | 900 | $7.2k (exactly $7,191) | Dragon Landing |
| | Trouble Hunter Chronicles: The Stolen Creed | older | $19.99 | 9 100% | 270 | $5.4k (exactly $5,397) | Iskonsko Studio |
| | After The War | older | $4.99 | 36 36% | 1.1k | $5.4k (exactly $5,389) | piratecat games |
| | COPS 2170 The Power of Law | older | $11.99 | 13 69% | 390 | $4.7k (exactly $4,676) | GFI |
| | A Lost Man | $4.99 | 15 100% | 450 | $2.2k (exactly $2,246) | Studio Arkos | |
| | Black Border 2 | $1.99 | 19 63% | 570 | $1.1k (exactly $1,134) | Bitzooma | |
| | HELLO HACKER | $5.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $898 (exactly $898) | h3ll0h4ck3r | |
| | Renounced | · EA | $6.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $629 (exactly $629) | Emergency Exit |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.