The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Astronauts · 2014 · $19.99 · Adventure · deal grade B

Measured on 2026-10-02 11:05 UTC, 3 days ago. The whole catalog is re-measured daily; a game that just launched can move fast between passes.

Estimated net residual revenue: $722 to $1.1k per month
Opportunity: $1.4k per month at x1.60 dormancy
Estimated lifetime owners: 515.0k
88% positive across 8978 reviews · 8.4 reviews/month

Why it's flagged

Developer silent for 11.2 years
Studio active elsewhere (2 titles tracked), so this one may welcome a partner
Last discounted 0 months ago, 5 sales in the last 12 months

Analyst notes (AI-assisted)

Note written 2026-08-25; the live figures above take precedence over any numbers in it.

A first-person detective walking simulator set in a mysterious forest where players reconstruct supernatural events through environmental clues.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter holds solid residual revenue at a mid-sized owner base with unusually durable community sentiment (88% positive lifetime). The title is genuinely profitable on backlist with zero active development cost, but recent reviews surface persistent friction around narrative clarity and onboarding that may cap new-player acquisition. This is a hold-and-optimize opportunity rather than a turnaround, best suited for a publisher seeking low-maintenance catalog depth or a studio evaluating IP revival potential. Most realistic play: publishing.

Risk: Walking-simulator genre sentiment has shifted; modern players expect tighter narrative handholding or stronger mechanical loops, and this title's obtuse puzzle flow may alienate fresh audiences despite strong legacy reviews.
Risk: Auto-save spacing and glitch reports surface in reviews; on a 2014 engine with no dev posts in 11 months, technical debt may accumulate faster than residual revenue justifies for a new owner.
Risk: Median playtime is under 4 hours and peak concurrent players sit at single digits; extremely narrow active community limits word-of-mouth lift or co-op/social expansion vectors.

This case as Markdown · Estimates carry ±30-50% error per title.