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Should I ship a Character Customization Choose Your Own Adventure game?
Character Customization + Choose Your Own Adventure
Of 129 developers who shipped a Character Customization Choose Your Own Adventure 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.. 396 more are announced, ×5.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $3.1k, ×5.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $570; 1 in 20 cleared $180k, ×297 the market median. Revenue is up 100% on the market; 396 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $564 (exactly $564) |
|---|---|
| Median | $3.1k (exactly $3,148) |
| Top 25% | $26k (exactly $26,387) |
| Top 5% | $187k (exactly $186,601) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 129 |
| Released games | 496 |
| Announced | 396 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
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 100% on the market, supply as many developers as 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
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, Choose Your Own Adventure; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Choices Matter, Adventure, RPG
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Story Rich, Anime
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 14,776 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $570. 8 in 10 of the 108 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 396 games are announced against 67 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.9 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
The Elder Scrolls® Online 2017 · $81M 
Disney Dreamlight Valley 2023 · $26M 
Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion 2023 · $12M 
WitchSpring R 2023 · $7.2M 
《蜀山：初章》买断版 2022 · $4.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Elder Scrolls® Online | older | $19.99 | 134,421 82% | 4.0M | $81M (exactly $80,612,274) | ZeniMax Online Studios |
| | Disney Dreamlight Valley | older | $39.99 | 22,027 92% | 661k | $26M (exactly $26,425,792) | Gameloft |
| | Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion | older | $17.99 | 22,287 84% | 669k | $12M (exactly $12,028,294) | 半瓶醋工作室（Half Amateur Studio） |
| | WitchSpring R | older | $34.99 | 6,858 95% | 206k | $7.2M (exactly $7,198,843) | KIWIWALKS |
| | 《蜀山：初章》买断版 | older | $24.99 | 5,772 74% | 173k | $4.3M (exactly $4,327,268) | 重楼工作室 |
 | Death and Taxes | older | $12.99 | 7,855 86% | 236k | $3.1M (exactly $3,061,094) | Placeholder Gameworks |
 | School Days | $14.99 | 6,023 77% | 181k | $2.7M (exactly $2,708,543) | 白雨工作室 | |
 | HoneySelect2Libido DX | older | $69.99 | 1,283 82% | 38k | $2.7M (exactly $2,693,915) | ILLUSION |
 | Shadows Over Loathing | older | $22.99 | 3,120 95% | 94k | $2.2M (exactly $2,151,864) | Asymmetric |
 | New Tales from the Borderlands | older | $39.99 | 1,737 29% | 52k | $2.1M (exactly $2,083,879) | Gearbox Software |
 | Guild Wars® Reforged | $19.99 | 3,265 87% | 98k | $2.0M (exactly $1,958,020) | ArenaNet® | |
 | To Pixelia | $14.99 | 1,194 73% | 36k | $537k (exactly $536,942) | Pixeduo Studios | |
 | My sexy Neighbour 2 | $14.99 | 849 67% | 25k | $382k (exactly $381,795) | Pocket Rocket Studio 🚀 | |
 | My Sexy Neighbor 🔞 | $9.99 | 1,197 70% | 36k | $359k (exactly $358,741) | Pocket Rocket Studio 🚀 | |
 | Fallen / Brand New World | $29.99 | 356 94% | 11k | $320k (exactly $320,293) | Parthia Studio LLC | |
 | Lugh World | · EA | $14.99 | 458 68% | 14k | $206k (exactly $205,963) | Lughsoft |
 | Rock Star Life Simulator | $12.49 | 498 85% | 15k | $187k (exactly $186,601) | HOGO Games | |
 | DDinosaur with Double D's | $6.99 | 771 97% | 23k | $162k (exactly $161,679) | Kud | |
 | Arcadia Fallen II | $29.99 | 165 98% | 5.0k | $148k (exactly $148,450) | Galdra Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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