Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + City Builder
Should I ship a Character Customization City Builder?
Character Customization + City Builder
Of 45 developers who shipped a Character Customization City Builder 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.. 102 more are announced, ×4.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $34k, ×53 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $4.6k; 1 in 20 cleared $2.2M, ×3615 the market median. Revenue is down 65% on the market; 102 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $4.6k (exactly $4,554) |
|---|---|
| Median | $34k (exactly $33,583) |
| Top 25% | $322k (exactly $322,039) |
| Top 5% | $2.3M (exactly $2,270,092) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 45 |
| Released games | 116 |
| Announced | 102 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $11.99 |
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 65% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 19%, 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
- City Builder
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, City Builder; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Building, Sandbox, Simulation
- Price point
- $11.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Relaxing
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 59,423 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $4.6k. 5 in 10 of the 29 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 102 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 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
inZOI 2025 · EA · $36M 
HUMANKIND™ 2021 · $33M 
FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time 2025 · $21M 
Kingdom Heroes 8 2021 · $12M 
Smalland: Survive the Wilds 2024 · $8.5M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | inZOI | · EA | $39.99 | 30,020 77% | 901k | $36M (exactly $36,014,994) | inZOI Studio |
| | HUMANKIND™ | older | $49.99 | 22,165 68% | 665k | $33M (exactly $33,240,850) | AMPLITUDE Studios |
| | FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time | $59.99 | 11,771 91% | 353k | $21M (exactly $21,184,269) | LEVEL5 Inc. | |
| | Kingdom Heroes 8 | older | $29.99 | 12,793 55% | 384k | $12M (exactly $11,509,862) | USERJOY Technology Co.,Ltd. |
| | Smalland: Survive the Wilds | older | $34.99 | 8,086 82% | 243k | $8.5M (exactly $8,487,874) | Max Ent Games Ltd |
 | Project Hospital | older | $24.99 | 8,387 89% | 252k | $6.3M (exactly $6,287,734) | Oxymoron Games |
 | Mad Games Tycoon 2 | older | $24.99 | 7,355 93% | 221k | $5.5M (exactly $5,514,044) | Eggcode |
 | Age of Wonders: Planetfall | older | $29.99 | 4,758 80% | 143k | $4.3M (exactly $4,280,773) | Triumph Studios |
 | Littlewood | older | $14.99 | 6,083 93% | 182k | $2.7M (exactly $2,735,525) | Sean Young |
 | Eastern Era | $24.99 | 3,028 65% | 91k | $2.3M (exactly $2,270,092) | FunYoo Games | |
 | Hotel Architect | $29.99 | 1,934 94% | 58k | $1.7M (exactly $1,740,020) | Pathos Interactive | |
 | Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure | $29.99 | 1,867 82% | 56k | $1.7M (exactly $1,679,740) | Massive Miniteam | |
 | ContractVille | $9.99 | 5,593 80% | 168k | $1.7M (exactly $1,676,222) | MYM Games Studios | |
 | City Transport Simulator 2026 - Bus & Tram | $39.99 | 526 73% | 16k | $631k (exactly $631,042) | ViewApp | |
 | Anomaly President | · EA | $14.99 | 1,376 91% | 41k | $619k (exactly $618,787) | Phew Phew Games |
 | Noble Legacy | · EA | $24.99 | 744 70% | 22k | $558k (exactly $557,777) | Ultimus Rex LLC |
 | Crusaders Quest : Hero Town | $6.99 | 2,564 76% | 77k | $538k (exactly $537,671) | CQ LABS |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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