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Should I ship a Time-Travel Walking Simulator?
Walking Simulator + Time Travel
Only 13 developers shipped a Time-Travel Walking Simulator 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, Cybernetic Fault, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 27 more are announced, ×4.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.4k, ×5.1 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.1k; 1 in 20 cleared $300k, ×643 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 27 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) |
| Top 25% | $46k (exactly $46,154) |
| Top 5% | $305k (exactly $305,346) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 13 |
| Released games | 47 |
| Announced | 27 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Walking Simulator
- 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
- Walking Simulator
- Price point
- $9.99 typical
Why players buy here
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 1,550 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $1.1k. 6 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 27 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.5 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Walking Simulator with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVStrong odds
- + WarFair
- + RomanceFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + MusicFair
- + SupernaturalFair
- + Psychological HorrorFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + Mystery DungeonFair
- + NoirFair
Comparable games
Life is Strange: Before the Storm 2017 · $17M 
The Forgotten City 2021 · $8.4M 
Last Day of June 2017 · $1.8M 
The Gardens Between 2018 · $1.4M 
Cybernetic Fault 2025 · $305k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Life is Strange: Before the Storm | older | $16.99 | 33,504 93% | 1.0M | $17M (exactly $17,076,989) | Deck Nine, Feral Interactive (Mac), Fer… (Deck Nine, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | The Forgotten City | older | $24.99 | 11,159 96% | 335k | $8.4M (exactly $8,365,902) | Modern Storyteller |
| | Last Day of June | older | $19.99 | 2,946 87% | 88k | $1.8M (exactly $1,766,716) | Ovosonico |
| | The Gardens Between | older | $19.99 | 2,362 93% | 71k | $1.4M (exactly $1,416,491) | The Voxel Agents |
| | Cybernetic Fault | $14.99 | 679 78% | 20k | $305k (exactly $305,346) | Whale Rock Games | |
 | Radiolight | $14.99 | 414 90% | 12k | $186k (exactly $186,176) | Krystof Knesl | |
 | Between Time: Escape Room | older | $9.99 | 326 80% | 9.8k | $98k (exactly $97,702) | mc2games |
 | BRINK Traveler | older | $14.99 | 188 87% | 5.6k | $85k (exactly $84,544) | BRINK XR |
 | Pyramids and Aliens: Escape Room | $12.99 | 191 81% | 5.7k | $74k (exactly $74,433) | mc2games | |
 | NOSTALGIC TRAIN | older | $11.99 | 187 76% | 5.6k | $67k (exactly $67,264) | Tatamibeya 畳部屋 |
 | Sea Chronicles | $9.99 | 154 90% | 4.6k | $46k (exactly $46,154) | Madi Abdykarimov | |
 | 火起雪中寺 | $10.99 | 59 77% | 1.8k | $19k (exactly $19,452) | 江湖奇事录 | |
 | The Backrooms: Rescue Expedition | $9.99 | 21 33% | 630 | $6.3k (exactly $6,294) | {CRYTIME} | |
 | Denbora | $19.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) | Bionic Ape | |
 | FORMIDO | $2.99 | 16 81% | 480 | $1.4k (exactly $1,435) | Tonguç Bodur | |
 | P1: Anchor Light | $7.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $1.2k (exactly $1,198) | Deadbolt Interactive, Perp Games | |
 | Kozyrev Horrors | $4.99 | 7 85% | 210 | $1.0k (exactly $1,048) | Catsprout |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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