Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + 3D Platformer
Should I ship a Character Customization 3D Platformer?
Character Customization + 3D Platformer
Of 238 developers who shipped a Character Customization 3D Platformer 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.. 424 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $990, ×1.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $480k, ×770 the market median. Revenue is up 20% on the market; 424 games are announced against 142 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $240 (exactly $240) |
|---|---|
| Median | $987 (exactly $987) |
| Top 25% | $11k (exactly $10,547) |
| Top 5% | $483k (exactly $483,479) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 238 |
| Released games | 628 |
| Announced | 424 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 up 20% on the market, supply 45% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Character Customization
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- 3D Platformer
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, 3D Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Third Person, Funny
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 88% positive over 43,189 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $240. 8 in 10 of the 125 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 424 games are announced against 142 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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
Sonic Forces 2017 · $8.1M 
Sunset Overdrive 2018 · $7.2M 
ATLYSS 2024 · EA · $5.8M 
Sackboy™: A Big Adventure 2022 · $5.1M 
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game 2025 · $5.0M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sonic Forces | older | $39.99 | 6,742 61% | 202k | $8.1M (exactly $8,088,377) | Sonic Team, Hardlight |
| | Sunset Overdrive | older | $19.99 | 12,082 90% | 362k | $7.2M (exactly $7,245,575) | Insomniac Games, Blind Squirrel Games |
| | ATLYSS | · EA | $9.99 | 19,244 96% | 577k | $5.8M (exactly $5,767,427) | Kiseff |
| | Sackboy™: A Big Adventure | older | $59.99 | 2,822 83% | 85k | $5.1M (exactly $5,078,753) | Sumo Digital |
| | Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game | $24.99 | 6,638 94% | 199k | $5.0M (exactly $4,976,509) | MLMEDIA | |
 | Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness | older | $59.99 | 2,650 79% | 80k | $4.8M (exactly $4,769,205) | Chime Corporation |
 | Biped | older | $14.99 | 9,025 85% | 271k | $4.1M (exactly $4,058,542) | NEXT Studios |
 | Saints Row®: The Third™ Remastered | older | $29.99 | 3,968 73% | 119k | $3.6M (exactly $3,570,010) | Deep Silver Volition, Sperasoft |
 | HoneySelect2Libido DX | older | $69.99 | 1,283 82% | 38k | $2.7M (exactly $2,693,915) | ILLUSION |
 | ScooterFlow | $19.99 | 3,975 95% | 119k | $2.4M (exactly $2,383,808) | UncannyKiwi Limited | |
 | Voidling Bound | $24.99 | 3,126 92% | 94k | $2.3M (exactly $2,343,562) | Hatchery Games | |
 | Tony Hawk's™ Pro Skater™ 3 + 4 | $49.99 | 1,554 68% | 47k | $2.3M (exactly $2,330,534) | Iron Galaxy Studios | |
 | s&box | $9.99 | 5,118 46% | 154k | $1.5M (exactly $1,533,865) | Facepunch Studios | |
 | Yooka-Replaylee | $29.99 | 1,045 92% | 31k | $940k (exactly $940,186) | Playtonic Games | |
 | MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM SEED BATTLE DESTINY REMASTERED | $39.99 | 757 77% | 23k | $908k (exactly $908,173) | Bandai Namco Forge Digitals Inc. | |
 | Cozy Caravan | $19.99 | 1,247 93% | 37k | $748k (exactly $747,826) | 5 Lives Studios | |
 | Kristala | $39.99 | 485 71% | 15k | $582k (exactly $581,854) | Astral Clocktower Studios |
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.