Choice of Games

What Choice of Games does

Choice of Games LLC is a privately held California company founded in 2009 by Dan Fabulich and Adam Strong-Morse, operating as the self-described world's largest publishing house for interactive novels. The company produces text-based branching narrative games (no graphics or sound effects) in which players make hundreds of choices across hundreds of thousands of words, typically reading only about 20% of the total word count in a single playthrough. It operates three publishing labels: Choice of Games (for professional authors), Heart's Choice (romance-focused), and Hosted Games (for new and community authors), and maintains a formal editorial submission process with author advances of $10,000-$15,000 against 25% or 10% royalties, with authors retaining IP ownership.

The company's core technology is ChoiceScript, a proprietary scripting language developed in-house that enables individual authors to write full-length branching narratives under a unified creative vision. Games are distributed cross-platform through a proprietary web and mobile app, plus Steam, the iOS App Store, Google Play, and Amazon Kindle Fire. In 2021 the company entered a strategic partnership with World of Darkness and Paradox Interactive, producing a series of licensed titles based on Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Hunter: The Reckoning. The company publishes 12+ games per year and has released more than 150 interactive novels since inception.

Revenue is generated primarily through one-time game purchases across multiple storefronts, supplemented by author royalty obligations. The company maintains a strict no-AI content policy and positions itself as a quality, human-authored alternative in the interactive fiction market. It is headquartered in San Francisco with 11-50 employees and operates as an independent, founder-owned business with no disclosed institutional or venture capital backing.

Name

Choice of Games

Legal name

Choice of Games LLC

Website

https://choiceofgames.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Choice of Games LLC is a privately held publisher of text-based interactive novels, operating three labels (Choice of Games, Heart's Choice, Hosted Games) using its proprietary ChoiceScript language, and serving individual consumers globally via web, Steam, iOS, Android, and Amazon.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Interactive Fiction Publishing

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Full-Service Game Publishers (1st/2nd/3rd-Party Publishing) (MPAFABAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Publisher-Owned Direct-to-Consumer Stores (MPAFACAK)

Keywords

• Interactive fiction
• Text-based games
• Interactive novels
• Branching narratives
• Digital publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Game Sales: Interactive novels sold as one-time purchases across multiple platforms including Steam, iOS App Store, Google Play, and Amazon. Games are available for purchase directly on the company website as well.
2. Author Royalties: Authors receive royalty payments (either 25% or 10% depending on contract tier) against advances ranging from $10,000 to $15,000
3. Free Back Catalog: The company offers older games for free to all readers, generating engagement and brand awareness while monetizing newer releases

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Choice of Games is the world's largest publishing house for interactive novels, publishing text-based, branching-narrative games built on its proprietary ChoiceScript language. It operates three labels (Choice of Games, Heart's Choice, Hosted Games), contracts external authors via advances and royalties, and distributes titles across web, iOS, Android, Steam, and Amazon.

Product overview

Choice of Games LLC is the world's largest publishing house for interactive novels, operating three publishing labels: Choice of Games (for professional authors), Heart's Choice (romance-focused), and Hosted Games (for new authors). Their core product is the ChoiceScript scripting language, which enables branching narrative games hundreds of thousands of words long. Games are distributed through their proprietary apps (iOS, Android, web), as well as Steam, Google Play, and Amazon Kindle Fire. They publish both original titles and licensed World of Darkness content (Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Hunter: The Reckoning) in partnership with Paradox Interactive. All games are text-based without graphics or sound effects, powered by player imagination.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Heart's Choice: Romance-focused interactive fiction publishing label
• Hosted Games
• ChoiceScript

Products and services

• Choice of Games (main publishing label) Primary publishing label for text-based interactive novels written by professional published authors. Games are hundreds of thousands of words with hundreds of choices, distributed via web, iOS, Android, Steam, and Amazon.
• Heart's Choice
• Hosted Games
• ChoiceScript
• Vampire: The Masquerade Interactive Novels

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• World of Darkness / Paradox InteractivecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerChoice of Games has partnered with World of Darkness and Paradox Interactive to develop and publish multiple games based on Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Hunter: The Reckoning. The partnership brings the shared story universe of World of Darkness to interactive fiction format, with games like Vampire: The Masquerade - Night Road, Parliament of Knives, Out for Blood, Sins of the Sires, Werewolf: The Apocalypse - The Book of Hungry Names, and the Hunter: The Reckoning series.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Telltale Games: Telltale pioneered the choice-driven narrative adventure genre (The Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us, Batman) and is a broad incumbent in interactive narrative games. While its titles are graphically produced rather than text-only, it competes with Choice of Games for consumers seeking choice-driven storytelling experiences.

Others

• itch.io Interactive Fiction: itch.io is a major indie game distribution platform with a strong interactive fiction category hosting Twine and ChoiceScript games. It functions as both a distribution channel for some Hosted Games authors and as an indirect competitor enabling independent interactive fiction publishing.

Direct peers

• Pixelberry Studios: Pixelberry publishes Choices: Stories You Play, one of the leading mobile interactive narrative games with hundreds of stories and millions of monthly active users. It is a direct competitor in mobile interactive fiction, with a similar one-time-purchase and choice-driven model.
• Inkle Studios: Inkle is an independent narrative games studio known for choice-driven interactive fiction titles such as 80 Days, Heaven's Vault, and Sorcery! It directly competes with Choice of Games in the choice-based interactive narrative category, with a comparable focus on text-and-illustration driven gameplay.
• Tin Man Games: Tin Man Games publishes gamebook-style interactive fiction titles ( Fighting Fantasy, Sorcery! licensed adaptations) on mobile and PC. It overlaps with Choice of Games in the choose-your-own-adventure narrative game category with a similar licensing and publishing model.
• Episode Interactive (Pocket Gems): Episode is a mobile interactive storytelling platform with user-generated and professionally produced visual novel-style stories. It directly competes with Choice of Games for the same casual reader/player audience seeking choice-driven narrative content.
• Chapters Interactive Stories: Chapters is a mobile interactive story platform with choice-driven romance and adventure narratives, operating under a comparable micro-transaction and freemium model. It competes with Choice of Games for the same female-skewing interactive fiction audience.
• 3 Minute Games: 3 Minute Games developed the Lifeline series, a mobile interactive fiction franchise centered on real-time text-based choice mechanics. It is a direct competitor in text-first interactive narrative games distributed on iOS and Android, with comparable gameplay loops to Choice of Games titles.

Emerging players

• Choice of Games (Hosted Games authors): Hosted Games is Choice of Games' own community publishing label for new and aspiring authors. It is included as a peer reference because it represents the indie author / user-generated interactive fiction publishing model, comparable to amateur interactive fiction publishing platforms like Twine communities or itch.io interactive fiction creators.
• Heart's Choice: Heart's Choice is Choice of Games' own romance-focused interactive fiction publishing label. It is included as a peer reference because it competes within the romance interactive fiction niche alongside publishers like Romance Novel Games and Chapters.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/choiceofgames
• Facebookfacebook.com/choiceofgames
• Instagraminstagram.com/choiceofgames
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/choice-of-games

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Choice of Games