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Should I ship a Romance Word Game?
Word Game + Romance
Of 91 developers who shipped a Romance Word 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.. 134 more are announced, ×2.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 2 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $5.2k, ×44 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.5k; 1 in 20 cleared $470k, ×3987 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 134 games are announced against 62 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.5k (exactly $1,455) |
|---|---|
| Median | $5.2k (exactly $5,242) |
| Top 25% | $38k (exactly $38,381) |
| Top 5% | $474k (exactly $474,438) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 91 |
| Released games | 232 |
| Announced | 134 |
| Effort | 2 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| 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 down 35% on the market, supply 90% 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.
What it takes
- Effort
- 2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
- Systems
- Word Game; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Interactive Fiction, RPG
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 26,567 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.5k. 7 in 10 of the 39 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 134 games are announced against 62 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Word Game with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SurvivalFair
- + TacticalFair
- + Point & ClickFair
- + LootFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventureFair
- + DetectiveFair
- + Procedural GenerationFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + Hidden ObjectFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + NatureFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty | older | $9.99 | 49,765 94% | 1.5M | $15M (exactly $14,914,570) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) |
| | The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City's Fall | $11.99 | 8,227 58% | 247k | $3.0M (exactly $2,959,252) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) | |
| | Lay a Beauty to Rest: The Darkness Peach Blossom Spring | older | $13.99 | 6,310 95% | 189k | $2.6M (exactly $2,648,307) | 零创游戏(ZerocreationGame) |
| | Matchmaking Inc. | $8.99 | 5,773 87% | 173k | $1.6M (exactly $1,556,978) | Wave Games | |
| | 月华辉映之刻 | $11.99 | 4,227 89% | 127k | $1.5M (exactly $1,520,452) | 侠客狗工作室 | |
| | Our End of the World | older | $9.99 | 4,453 79% | 134k | $1.3M (exactly $1,334,564) | 橘子班, 大好网 |
| | 风信楼 | older | $11.99 | 3,423 94% | 103k | $1.2M (exactly $1,231,253) | Pingfang Games |
| | 灾厄黑龙与谎言公主 | $9.99 | 3,682 90% | 110k | $1.1M (exactly $1,103,495) | 莓夜工作室 | |
| | 7 Days to End with You | older | $7.99 | 3,327 87% | 100k | $797k (exactly $797,482) | Lizardry |
| | 恋爱绮谭 不存在的真相 | older | $13.99 | 1,831 93% | 55k | $768k (exactly $768,471) | Never Knows Best |
| | V-LOVER! | $10.99 | 1,439 89% | 43k | $474k (exactly $474,438) | Hentopia | |
| | Mr Right Simulator | $12.99 | 724 94% | 22k | $282k (exactly $282,143) | 男神模拟器工作室 | |
| | 错过的暑假可以放第二次吗? | $6.99 | 1,229 99% | 37k | $258k (exactly $257,721) | 麻溜完结制作组 | |
| | NICE TO MEET YOU, AGAIN | $24.99 | 334 97% | 10k | $250k (exactly $250,400) | Purple Software | |
| | 纸上的魔法使 | $29.99 | 213 89% | 6.4k | $192k (exactly $191,636) | UGUISUKAGURA | |
| | Only You | $6.99 | 719 94% | 22k | $151k (exactly $150,774) | 忘雪社 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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