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Should I ship a Character Customization 2D Fighter?
Character Customization + 2D Fighter
Of 45 developers who shipped a Character Customization 2D Fighter 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.. 106 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $78k, ×125 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 106 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $719 (exactly $719) |
| Top 25% | $6.9k (exactly $6,886) |
| Top 5% | $78k (exactly $78,248) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 45 |
| Released games | 173 |
| Announced | 106 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 down 55% on the market, supply 40% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Character Customization
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- 2D Fighter
- effort 5 / 10 · low · frame-precise animation and rollback netcode
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, 2D Fighter; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, PvP, Arcade
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Anime, Cute
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 9,476 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 7 in 10 of the 25 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 106 games are announced against 27 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Character Customization with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Real-TimeStrong odds
- + Music-Based Procedural GenerationFair
- + TransportationFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + BikesFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + TypingFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Mortal Kombat 11 | older | $49.99 | 87,021 88% | 2.6M | $131M (exactly $130,505,394) | NetherRealm Studios, QLOC, Shiver |
| | TEKKEN 7 | older | $39.99 | 68,063 83% | 2.0M | $82M (exactly $81,655,181) | BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc. |
| | Street Fighter™ 6 | older | $39.99 | 49,952 81% | 1.5M | $60M (exactly $59,927,414) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| | Mortal Kombat 1 | older | $49.99 | 34,197 74% | 1.0M | $51M (exactly $51,285,241) | NetherRealm Studios, QLOC |
| | Injustice™ 2 | older | $49.99 | 17,445 86% | 523k | $26M (exactly $26,162,266) | NetherRealm Studios, QLOC |
| | SOULCALIBUR VI | older | $59.99 | 9,768 83% | 293k | $18M (exactly $17,579,470) | BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc., Dimps Corpor… (BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc., Dimps Corporation) |
| | THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV | $29.99 | 8,399 83% | 252k | $7.6M (exactly $7,556,580) | SNK CORPORATION | |
| | Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising | older | $24.99 | 5,944 83% | 178k | $4.5M (exactly $4,456,217) | Cygames, Inc., Arc System Works |
| | SNK HEROINES Tag Team Frenzy | older | $49.99 | 891 72% | 27k | $1.3M (exactly $1,336,233) | SNK CORPORATION, Abstraction Games |
| | Fraymakers | · EA older | $19.99 | 1,274 81% | 38k | $764k (exactly $764,018) | Team Fray, McLeodGaming |
| | Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate | $24.99 | 205 84% | 6.2k | $154k (exactly $153,688) | Rocket Panda Games Japan | |
| | Femboy Futa Mania 🌶️ | $14.99 | 174 71% | 5.2k | $78k (exactly $78,248) | Lewd Star | |
| | Swords and Sandals 3 Redux | $9.99 | 233 87% | 7.0k | $70k (exactly $69,830) | Whiskeybarrel Studios | |
| | Chaos Faction Legacy Collection | $4.99 | 234 93% | 7.0k | $35k (exactly $35,030) | George "EON" Eade | |
| | Pro Wrestler Story | $8.99 | 109 49% | 3.3k | $29k (exactly $29,397) | Kairosoft Co.,Ltd | |
| | FIGHTING GIRL YURI | $29.99 | 31 54% | 930 | $28k (exactly $27,891) | UMAI NEKO | |
| | Shadow Prisoner | · EA | $13.99 | 32 93% | 960 | $13k (exactly $13,430) | Kizawaya |
| | Astropods: Starside Glaze | $12.50 | 28 100% | 840 | $11k (exactly $10,500) | CheesiMoon, Breadbinbran | |
| | Wink Out | · EA | $7.99 | 31 100% | 930 | $7.4k (exactly $7,431) | Clevergence Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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