Do I ship it?

Games › Mechanics › Choose Your Own Adventure

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure game?

Choose Your Own Adventure

Of 1,992 developers who shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure 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.. 3,288 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 2 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $2.1k, ×18 the market's $120 for a 2 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $300k, ×2583 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 3,288 games are announced against 1,176 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 17.6 times the market baseline, revenue flat on the market, 3,288 announced, ×2.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Fig. 1 · this niche among 355
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 1,992
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $5.4k → $4.8k → $4.5k → $3.3k → $3.1k → $2.5k → $1.7k (still earning) → $719 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Choose Your Own Adventure: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 1,992
Bottom 30% $449 (exactly $449)
Median $2.1k (exactly $2,099)
Top 25% $16k (exactly $16,192)
Top 5% $307k (exactly $307,377)
Developers, 2 yr 1,992
Released games 6,588
Announced 3,288
Effort 2 / 10
AI-buildability High
Typical price $7.99

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 flat on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.

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Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

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

Choose Your Own Adventure
effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
2 / 10 · static 2D art, simple logic
Systems
Choose Your Own Adventure
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $18.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $18.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 482,616 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $450, median $2.1k, 1 in 4 over $16k, 1 in 20 over $300k.

3 in 10 developers made under $450. 8 in 10 of the 1,288 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 3,288 games are announced against 1,176 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 per shipper.

Plate 6 · every pair with this tag

All pairs with Choose Your Own Adventure

137 pairs with a mechanicwith: mechanics · settings · any
  1. City Builder + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.9k 34 devs
  2. Creature Collector + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.9k 27 devs
  3. Roguelite + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.8k 63 devs
  4. Resource Management + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.8k 73 devs
  5. 2D Platformer + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.8k 90 devs
  6. Racing + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.8k 29 devs
  7. Choose Your Own Adventure + Trivia Poor odds $1.7k 14 devs
  8. Dynamic Narration + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.6k 71 devs
  9. Bullet Hell + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.5k 12 devs
  10. Strategy RPG + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.5k 75 devs
  11. Tactical RPG + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.5k 37 devs
  12. Trading + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.5k 15 devs
  13. Turn-Based Strategy + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.5k 64 devs
  14. Online Co-Op + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.5k 28 devs
  15. Strategy + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.5k 248 devs
  16. Choose Your Own Adventure + Puzzle Poor odds $1.4k 299 devs
  17. Walking Simulator + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.4k 131 devs
  18. Swordplay + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.4k 15 devs
  19. Sailing + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.4k 12 devs
  20. Hack and Slash + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.4k 17 devs
  21. Exploration + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.3k 510 devs
  22. Grand Strategy + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.3k 20 devs
  23. Third-Person Shooter + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.3k 17 devs
  24. Survival + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.3k 113 devs
  25. Perma Death + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.2k 25 devs
  26. Investigation + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.2k 158 devs
  27. Turn-Based Tactics + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.2k 55 devs
  28. FPS + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.2k 36 devs
  29. Farming Sim + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.2k 23 devs
  30. Real Time Tactics + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.1k 21 devs
  31. Agriculture + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.1k 14 devs
  32. Inventory Management + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $1.1k 37 devs
  33. Choose Your Own Adventure + Hidden Object Poor odds $980 130 devs
  34. Action + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $958 277 devs
  35. Survival Horror + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $958 79 devs
  36. Board Game + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $899 19 devs
  37. Procedural Generation + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $898 30 devs
  38. Choose Your Own Adventure + Typing Poor odds $898 21 devs
  39. Action-Adventure + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $891 249 devs
  40. Shooter + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $860 37 devs
  41. PvP + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $860 29 devs
  42. Political Sim + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $832 33 devs
  43. Combat + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $719 77 devs
  44. Choose Your Own Adventure + Incremental Poor odds $718 89 devs
  45. Tactical + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $718 46 devs
  46. Driving + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $716 21 devs
  47. Action RPG + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $629 88 devs
  48. Physics + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $598 54 devs
  49. Puzzle Platformer + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $598 52 devs
  50. Collectathon + Choose Your Own Adventure Poor odds $598 51 devs
Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

DayZ 2018 · $582M Assassin's Creed® Odyssey 2018 · $310M Crimson Desert Enhanced 2026 · $242M Dispatch 2025 · $157M Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2018 · $129M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
DayZ older $49.99 387,850 78% 12M $582M (exactly $581,658,645) Bohemia Interactive
Assassin's Creed® Odyssey older $59.99 172,149 89% 5.2M $310M (exactly $309,816,555) Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubiso… (Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Kiev, Ubisoft Shanghai)
Crimson Desert Enhanced $69.99 115,056 83% 3.5M $242M (exactly $241,583,083) Pearl Abyss
Dispatch $29.99 174,624 97% 5.2M $157M (exactly $157,109,213) AdHoc Studio
Kingdom Come: Deliverance older $29.99 143,303 83% 4.3M $129M (exactly $128,929,709) Warhorse Studios
鬼谷八荒 Tale of Immortal older $19.99 190,184 56% 5.7M $114M (exactly $114,053,345) 鬼谷工作室
People Playground older $9.99 298,158 98% 8.9M $89M (exactly $89,357,953) mestiez
The Elder Scrolls® Online older $19.99 134,421 82% 4.0M $81M (exactly $80,612,274) ZeniMax Online Studios
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series older $49.99 36,594 96% 1.1M $55M (exactly $54,880,022) Skybound Games
Anno 1800 older $59.99 29,854 81% 896k $54M (exactly $53,728,244) Ubisoft Mainz
Metaphor: ReFantazio $69.99 25,224 89% 757k $53M (exactly $52,962,833) ATLUS
Gothic 1 Remake $49.99 26,258 88% 788k $39M (exactly $39,379,123) Alkimia Interactive
Magical Girl Witch Trials $29.99 29,869 96% 896k $27M (exactly $26,873,139) Acacia, Re,AER
Anno 117: Pax Romana $59.99 12,150 69% 365k $22M (exactly $21,866,355) Ubisoft Mainz
Sultan's Game $24.99 25,061 93% 752k $19M (exactly $18,788,232) Double Cross
Life is Strange: Double Exposure $49.99 7,842 68% 235k $12M (exactly $11,760,647) Deck Nine Games
Revenge on gold diggers $6.99 46,610 80% 1.4M $9.8M (exactly $9,774,117) 前方工作室
Mon Bazou $15.99 19,922 97% 598k $9.6M (exactly $9,556,583) Santa Goat

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