Games › Point & Click › Point & Click + Noir
Should I ship a Noir Point & Click game?
Point & Click + Noir
Of 95 developers who shipped a Noir Point & Click game 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.. 175 more are announced, ×2.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.7k, ×3.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $650k, ×1376 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 175 games are announced against 61 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $592 (exactly $592) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) |
| Top 25% | $14k (exactly $14,386) |
| Top 5% | $654k (exactly $653,577) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 95 |
| Released games | 335 |
| Announced | 175 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 down 85% on the market, supply 75% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Point & Click
- effort 2 / 10 · high · effort 2 sits in the high band
- Noir
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Point & Click; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Investigation, Puzzle
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, Atmospheric, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 23,199 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 7 in 10 of the 41 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 175 games are announced against 61 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Point & Click with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + JRPGFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + Party-Based RPGFair
- + Life SimFair
- + Local MultiplayerFair
- + MiningFair
- + CookingFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + UnderwaterFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + Online Co-OpFair
- + Word GameFair
Comparable games
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut 2019 · $142M 
The Wolf Among Us 2013 · $15M 
Murdered: Soul Suspect 2014 · $7.2M 
Batman - The Telltale Series 2016 · $6.8M 
The Roottrees are Dead 2025 · $5.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Disco Elysium - The Final Cut | older | $39.99 | 118,124 92% | 3.5M | $142M (exactly $141,713,363) | ZA/UM |
| | The Wolf Among Us | older | $14.99 | 32,494 97% | 975k | $15M (exactly $14,612,552) | Telltale |
| | Murdered: Soul Suspect | older | $19.99 | 12,051 87% | 362k | $7.2M (exactly $7,226,985) | Airtight Games |
| | Batman - The Telltale Series | older | $14.99 | 15,060 87% | 452k | $6.8M (exactly $6,772,482) | Telltale |
| | The Roottrees are Dead | $19.99 | 9,700 96% | 291k | $5.8M (exactly $5,817,090) | Evil Trout Inc. | |
 | Tangle Tower | older | $19.99 | 6,483 94% | 194k | $3.9M (exactly $3,887,855) | SFB Games |
 | Blacksad: Under the Skin | older | $19.99 | 5,356 83% | 161k | $3.2M (exactly $3,211,993) | Pendulo Studios, YS Interactive |
 | Grim Fandango Remastered | older | $14.99 | 7,127 91% | 214k | $3.2M (exactly $3,205,012) | Double Fine Productions, Shiny Shoe |
 | The Drifter | $19.99 | 4,735 97% | 142k | $2.8M (exactly $2,839,580) | Powerhoof, Dave Lloyd | |
 | Thimbleweed Park™ | older | $19.99 | 3,622 92% | 109k | $2.2M (exactly $2,172,113) | Terrible Toybox |
 | Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping | $9.99 | 2,571 96% | 77k | $771k (exactly $770,529) | Happy Broccoli Games | |
 | Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer | $19.99 | 1,244 95% | 37k | $746k (exactly $746,027) | Clifftop Games | |
 | Loco Motive | $17.99 | 1,211 92% | 36k | $654k (exactly $653,577) | Robust Games | |
 | In Sink: A Co-op Escape Adventure | $14.99 | 1,432 86% | 43k | $644k (exactly $643,970) | Clock Out Games | |
 | Aether & Iron | $24.99 | 521 84% | 16k | $391k (exactly $390,594) | Seismic Squirrel, Chaos Theory Games | |
 | LumineNight | $24.99 | 515 87% | 15k | $386k (exactly $386,096) | Spickasoft | |
 | The Posthumous Investigation | $19.99 | 554 94% | 17k | $332k (exactly $332,234) | Mother Gaia Studio | |
 | Confidential Killings - A Detective Game | $14.99 | 716 76% | 21k | $322k (exactly $321,985) | BRANE, Lorenzo Boni |
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.