Do I ship it?

Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Psychological

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Psychological Time Manipulation game?

Time Manipulation + Psychological

Only 18 developers shipped a Psychological Time Manipulation 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, Paragnosia, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 17 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 4 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $900, ×1.9 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $180. Revenue is up 955% on the market; 17 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 955% on the market, 17 announced, ×1.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Time Manipulation + Psychological
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 18
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $898 → $3.3k → $178 → $4.2k → $959 (still earning) → $234 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Time Manipulation + Psychological: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 18
Bottom 30% $178 (exactly $178)
Median $897 (exactly $897)
Top 25% $2.4k (exactly $2,398)
Top 5% $27k (exactly $27,292)
Developers, 2 yr 18
Released games 44
Announced 17
Effort 4 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.95

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 955% on the market, supply 135% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 9%, excluded from money figures.

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Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Time Manipulation
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
Psychological
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
Systems
Time Manipulation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Logic, Puzzle
Price point
$5.95 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $5.95.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 507 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $900, 1 in 4 over $2.3k, 1 in 20 over $27k.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. 8 in 10 of the 6 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 17 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Time Manipulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + DemonsFair14 devs · median $2.7k · 9 announced
  2. + CapitalismFair9 devs · median $1.8k · 14 announced
  3. + ModernFair12 devs · median $987 · 9 announced
  4. + CollectathonFair10 devs · median $657 · 15 announced
  5. + RacingFair10 devs · median $599 · 12 announced
  6. + Precision PlatformerFair22 devs · median $598 · 20 announced
  7. + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds9 devs · median $13k · 24 announced
  8. + RobotsPoor odds12 devs · median $11k · 16 announced
  9. + Post-apocalypticPoor odds7 devs · median $6.7k · 22 announced
  10. + DetectivePoor odds16 devs · median $6.5k · 32 announced
  11. + NoirPoor odds9 devs · median $6.5k · 15 announced
  12. + RPGPoor odds32 devs · median $5.4k · 93 announced

All 103 pairs on the Time Manipulation page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Nobody Wants to Die 2024 · $4.4M 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel 2020 · $2.9M Lucifer Within Us 2020 · $381k Paragnosia 2024 · $27k Paragnosia: Museum 2026 · $25k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Nobody Wants to Die older $24.99 5,818 83% 175k $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) Critical Hit Games
5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel older $11.99 8,097 96% 243k $2.9M (exactly $2,912,491) Conor Petersen, Thunkspace, LLC
Lucifer Within Us older $19.99 635 73% 19k $381k (exactly $380,809) Kitfox Games
Paragnosia $3.99 228 92% 6.8k $27k (exactly $27,292) Sine Coda
Paragnosia: Museum $5.99 139 87% 4.2k $25k (exactly $24,978) Sine Coda
The Time Machine $9.99 35 97% 1.1k $10k (exactly $10,490) Lionel Marsden
Arcanima: Mist of Oblivion - Prologue older $6.99 32 87% 960 $6.7k (exactly $6,710) Stendhal Games
Chess Pills older $3.99 43 90% 1.3k $5.1k (exactly $5,147) Deep Green Games
Observe $9.99 14 100% 420 $4.2k (exactly $4,196) Robin van der Horst, Eryk Kiepuszewski,… (Robin van der Horst, Eryk Kiepuszewski, Pauls Dinne)
The Frozen Garden older $4.99 25 76% 750 $3.7k (exactly $3,742) Distorted Production
Grimslair $9.99 10 100% 300 $3.0k (exactly $2,997) ThunderRam Studios
Detective Malinowski The Truth Will Be Revealed $9.99 8 100% 240 $2.4k (exactly $2,398) Game The Same
The Office Void $1.49 53 86% 1.6k $2.4k (exactly $2,369) Coldheart Entertainment
ANARIA: Reborn $6.99 5 40% 150 $1.0k (exactly $1,048) VOIDEMBER
Anaria $2.99 11 54% 330 $987 (exactly $987) VOIDEMBER
A World To Come $7.99 4 100% 120 $959 (exactly $959) Archytas, Saturn Rising Labs

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