Games › Time Manipulation › Time Manipulation + Time Travel
Should I ship a Time-Travel Time Manipulation game?
Time Manipulation + Time Travel
Of 55 developers who shipped a Time-Travel Time Manipulation 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.. 97 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.1k, ×2.3 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $330k, ×699 the market median. Revenue is up 410% on the market; 97 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,079) |
| Top 25% | $10k (exactly $10,490) |
| Top 5% | $332k (exactly $332,234) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 55 |
| Released games | 176 |
| Announced | 97 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 410% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 14%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Time Travel
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Time Manipulation; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Action-Adventure
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $17.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $17.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 4,254 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 9 in 10 of the 30 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 97 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Time Manipulation with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + DemonsFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + ModernFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + CollectathonFair
- + RacingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + Choose Your Own AdventurePoor odds
- + RobotsPoor odds
- + Post-apocalypticPoor odds
- + DetectivePoor odds
- + NoirPoor odds
Comparable games
Quantum Break 2016 · $28M 
Twelve Minutes 2021 · $5.6M 
Singularity™ 2010 · $4.9M 
Braid 2009 · $3.1M 
5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel 2020 · $2.9M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Quantum Break | older | $39.99 | 23,141 86% | 694k | $28M (exactly $27,762,258) | Remedy Entertainment |
| | Twelve Minutes | older | $24.99 | 7,408 73% | 222k | $5.6M (exactly $5,553,778) | Luis Antonio |
| | Singularity™ | older | $29.99 | 5,487 93% | 165k | $4.9M (exactly $4,936,654) | Raven Software |
| | Braid | older | $14.99 | 6,941 93% | 208k | $3.1M (exactly $3,121,368) | Number None |
| | 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel | older | $11.99 | 8,097 96% | 243k | $2.9M (exactly $2,912,491) | Conor Petersen, Thunkspace, LLC |
 | The Sexy Brutale | older | $19.99 | 2,895 91% | 87k | $1.7M (exactly $1,736,131) | Cavalier Game Studios, Tequila Works |
 | Timespinner | older | $19.99 | 2,823 86% | 85k | $1.7M (exactly $1,692,953) | Lunar Ray Games |
 | Prince of Persia®: The Sands of Time | older | $9.99 | 5,045 85% | 151k | $1.5M (exactly $1,511,986) | Kudosoft |
 | The Gardens Between | older | $19.99 | 2,362 93% | 71k | $1.4M (exactly $1,416,491) | The Voxel Agents |
 | Prince of Persia: Warrior Within™ | older | $9.99 | 3,933 82% | 118k | $1.2M (exactly $1,178,720) | Ubisoft |
 | Chrono Gear: Warden of Time | $17.99 | 950 98% | 29k | $513k (exactly $512,715) | Team Chrono Gear, GalaxyTrail | |
 | Million Depth | $16.99 | 673 93% | 20k | $343k (exactly $343,028) | Cyber Space Biotope | |
 | The Posthumous Investigation | $19.99 | 554 94% | 17k | $332k (exactly $332,234) | Mother Gaia Studio | |
 | Ascend to ZERO | $11.99 | 867 82% | 26k | $312k (exactly $311,860) | Flyway Games, Inc. | |
 | Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate | $49.99 | 149 62% | 4.5k | $223k (exactly $223,455) | Mighty Eyes | |
 | DragonLoop | $8.99 | 567 91% | 17k | $153k (exactly $152,920) | 沙因, 小阮 | |
 | UnLoop | · EA | $17.99 | 163 98% | 4.9k | $88k (exactly $87,971) | Superposition NULL |
 | Loophole | $9.99 | 154 99% | 4.6k | $46k (exactly $46,154) | Levi Pinkert | |
 | Time Snatcher Handy | $9.99 | 88 96% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,374) | PulleyBun, ClockworkCats | |
 | RewindGirl | $7.99 | 89 92% | 2.7k | $21k (exactly $21,333) | べすとまん |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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