Choose Your Own Adventure + Interactive Fiction: a typical launch earns $991 in its first year

That is the median of 191 indie paid launches, 2024 Q4 to 2025 Q3. 26 of 376 matured launches earned $100k or more, against 24.5 expected for their price and launch quarter. Releases rose 28% on the year before: 292 against 229.

China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese

Price: $991
Price vs a year earlier: −30.0%
Releases, 12 months: 292
Upcoming games: 649
Games on the store: 1,851

Boards

as of 30 Sep 2026

Where this pair stands on each board of the front page. Every value carries its 90% interval and its sample.

Choose Your Own Adventure + Interactive Fiction on each board
Board	Value	Interval	Sample	Standing
Most anticipatedShare of all upcoming wishlist heat on Steam, with the number of upcoming games beside it.	0.40%share of upcoming wishlist heat	0.20% to 0.58%	51 ranked of 650 upcoming gameswishlist rank 30 Sep 2026	#579 of 7,193pairs on this board
Launch successLaunches earning $100k or more, against the number expected for their price tier and launch quarter. China market: over 35% of reviews are Chinese Listed after unflagged rows on this board	1.05xhits against expected	0.80x to 1.39x	376 launchesindie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old)	#6,032 of 6,324pairs on this board
Fewer new releasesFewer launches relative to players. Historically this did not predict better launches.	+7%player demand against new supply, relative to Steam	−9% to +28%	80 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025; releases 30 Sep 2025 to 30 Sep 2026 vs prior 12 months	#1,212 of 2,361pairs on this board
Rising demandGaining players faster than same-age games. Descriptive, not a launch signal.	−1%review growth against same-age games	−8% to +7%	80 tracked gamesJun 2026 to Aug 2026 vs Jun 2025 to Aug 2025	#847 of 2,461pairs on this board

Pairs are noisier than genres: the demand boards at pair level are indicative only.

Launch success

launches 6 to 30 months old

Matured indie paid launches that earned an estimated $100k or more, against the number expected for games at the same price tier and launch quarter.

Hits: 26
Expected: 24.5

Launches: 376
Hit rate: 6.9%5.3% to 12.6%
Expected rate: 6.5%
Against expected: 1.05x0.80x to 1.39x

Launch window: indie paid launches 31 Mar 2024 to 1 Apr 2026 (6 to 30 months old). Hit odds are shrunk toward the Steam-wide rate by 3 expected hits.

Revenue spread

376 launches

Estimated lifetime gross of the same matured launches. Half earned less than the median; one in ten earned more than the top figure.

Bottom tenth: $0
Median: $991
Top tenth: $58,984

Estimated from Steam review counts. Lifetime to date, so it differs from the first-year price above.

Supply

raw release counts

Games released with both tags, last 12 months against the 12 before.

Last 12 months: 292
Prior 12 months: 229

Change: +28%
Against Steam: −7%after Steam-wide growth, shrunk by 5 releases

Parent tags

Choose Your Own AdventureGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.
Interactive FictionGenre pageRanked on every board, with its best pairs.

Comparable games

8 indie titles

The biggest indie games in this pair by estimated lifetime gross. Revenue is shown as a number at 50 or more reviews, as a range at 10 to 49, and not at all below 10.

Related niches

pairs with Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure + Romance$3,13658 launches priced, 86 releases in 12 months
Choose Your Own Adventure + Dating Sim$3,11675 launches priced, 85 releases in 12 months
Choose Your Own Adventure + Character Customization$2,97334 launches priced, 26 releases in 12 months
Choose Your Own Adventure + Mystery$2,91649 launches priced, 75 releases in 12 months
Psychological Horror + Choose Your Own Adventure$2,54534 launches priced, 83 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Choose Your Own Adventure$2,180127 launches priced, 197 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Choose Your Own Adventure

More with Interactive Fiction

pairs with Interactive Fiction

Interactive Fiction + FMV$39,86745 launches priced, 64 releases in 12 months
Cinematic + Interactive Fiction$4,18748 launches priced, 48 releases in 12 months
Interactive Fiction + LGBTQ+$4,04637 launches priced, 62 releases in 12 months
Dating Sim + Interactive Fiction$3,15892 launches priced, 128 releases in 12 months
Romance + Interactive Fiction$3,13063 launches priced, 96 releases in 12 months
Story Rich + Interactive Fiction$2,268207 launches priced, 343 releases in 12 months

Every pair with Interactive Fiction

Verdicts

in development

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