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Should I ship an Alien Character Customization game?
Character Customization + Aliens
Of 53 developers who shipped an Alien Character Customization game 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.. 124 more are announced, ×5.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.1k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $340k, ×552 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 124 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,079) |
| Top 25% | $8.2k (exactly $8,234) |
| Top 5% | $346k (exactly $346,384) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 53 |
| Released games | 166 |
| Announced | 124 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| 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 75% on the market, supply 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 14%, 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
- Aliens
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action-Adventure, Exploration
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 83% positive over 4,580 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 9 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 124 games are announced against 25 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Character Customization with a different setting or mood, 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
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II 2020 · $105M 
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected 2013 · $34M 
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2021 · $19M 
XCOM: Enemy Unknown 2012 · $18M 
Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition 2018 · $8.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II | older | $39.99 | 87,494 88% | 2.6M | $105M (exactly $104,966,552) | DICE |
| | Saints Row IV: Re-Elected | older | $19.99 | 57,525 87% | 1.7M | $34M (exactly $34,497,742) | Deep Silver Volition |
| | Aliens: Fireteam Elite | older | $29.99 | 21,668 80% | 650k | $19M (exactly $19,494,700) | Cold Iron Studios |
| | XCOM: Enemy Unknown | older | $14.99 | 40,345 93% | 1.2M | $18M (exactly $18,143,146) | Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Linux) |
| | Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition | older | $29.99 | 9,094 72% | 273k | $8.2M (exactly $8,181,872) | Streum On Studio |
 | Aliens: Colonial Marines Collection | older | $29.99 | 7,833 63% | 235k | $7.0M (exactly $7,047,350) | Gearbox Software |
 | XCOM®: Chimera Squad | older | $9.99 | 20,602 71% | 618k | $6.2M (exactly $6,174,419) | Firaxis Games |
 | Age of Wonders: Planetfall | older | $29.99 | 4,758 80% | 143k | $4.3M (exactly $4,280,773) | Triumph Studios |
 | Phoenix Point | older | $24.99 | 5,375 73% | 161k | $4.0M (exactly $4,029,637) | Snapshot Games Inc. |
 | Predator: Hunting Grounds | older | $19.99 | 4,635 76% | 139k | $2.8M (exactly $2,779,610) | IllFonic |
 | TurretGirls | $9.99 | 1,882 85% | 56k | $564k (exactly $564,035) | NANAIRO ENTERPRISE | |
 | Star Fire: Eternal Cycle | $16.99 | 1,012 91% | 30k | $516k (exactly $515,816) | Ethereal Fish Studio | |
 | Every Day We Fight | · EA | $29.99 | 385 72% | 12k | $346k (exactly $346,384) | Signal Space Lab |
 | Starbreed | $10.99 | 271 95% | 8.1k | $89k (exactly $89,349) | RegulusNSFW | |
 | Ship of Heroes | $29.99 | 91 27% | 2.7k | $82k (exactly $81,873) | Heroic Games Corporation | |
 | HELL GALAXY | $24.99 | 89 74% | 2.7k | $67k (exactly $66,723) | Italian Games Factory | |
 | Void Marauders | $13.99 | 106 77% | 3.2k | $44k (exactly $44,488) | Autarca | |
 | Defender Bros | · EA | $19.99 | 64 90% | 1.9k | $38k (exactly $38,381) | Lucky Dart |
 | SKIBIDI GYATROOMS | $1.99 | 626 80% | 19k | $37k (exactly $37,372) | FoodWithoutTaste, Shinok | |
 | WARSHIFT 2 | $19.99 | 54 70% | 1.6k | $32k (exactly $32,384) | Cyril Megem |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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