Games › Mechanics › Choose Your Own Adventure
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.
| 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.
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
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
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.
What kills games here
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.
All pairs with Choose Your Own Adventure
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Thriller Poor odds $958
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Supernatural Poor odds $839
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Snow Poor odds $750
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Hacking Poor odds $719
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Pirates Poor odds $718
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Cats Poor odds $657
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Nature Poor odds $599
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Villain Protagonist Dead $9.6k
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Music Dead $2.8k
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Western Dead $1.9k
- Choose Your Own Adventure + World War II Dead $1.7k
- Choose Your Own Adventure + Dogs Dead $1.4k
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.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.