Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Crime
Should I ship a Crime Character Customization game?
Character Customization + Crime
Of 29 developers who shipped a Crime 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.. 104 more are announced, ×5.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.6k, ×2.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $360; 1 in 20 cleared $2.5M, ×3993 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 104 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $359 (exactly $359) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.6k (exactly $1,559) |
| Top 25% | $41k (exactly $40,553) |
| Top 5% | $2.5M (exactly $2,507,373) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 29 |
| Released games | 78 |
| Announced | 104 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 95% on the market, supply 90% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, 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
- Crime
- 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; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Open World, Simulation
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 97% positive over 294,825 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $360. 5 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 104 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year, ×5.5 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
Schedule I 2025 · EA · $173M 
Gotham Knights 2022 · $28M 
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers 2022 · $23M 
Saints Row: The Third 2011 · $15M 
Saints Row 2023 · $5.2M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Schedule I | · EA | $19.99 | 288,939 97% | 8.7M | $173M (exactly $173,276,718) | TVGS |
| | Gotham Knights | older | $59.99 | 15,688 68% | 471k | $28M (exactly $28,233,694) | Warner Bros. Games Montréal, QLOC |
| | Police Simulator: Patrol Officers | older | $39.99 | 18,880 75% | 566k | $23M (exactly $22,650,336) | Aesir Interactive |
| | Saints Row: The Third | older | $9.99 | 48,877 95% | 1.5M | $15M (exactly $14,648,437) | Volition |
| | Saints Row | older | $29.99 | 5,765 61% | 173k | $5.2M (exactly $5,186,770) | Volition |
 | Saints Row 2 | older | $9.99 | 12,848 75% | 385k | $3.9M (exactly $3,850,546) | Volition |
 | Psycho Patrol R | · EA | $39.99 | 2,090 88% | 63k | $2.5M (exactly $2,507,373) | Consumer Softproducts |
 | Due Process | · EA older | $9.99 | 6,558 83% | 197k | $2.0M (exactly $1,965,433) | Giant Enemy Crab |
 | CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience | older | $19.99 | 2,596 91% | 78k | $1.6M (exactly $1,556,821) | Delve Interactive |
 | The Wife Next Door | $16.99 | 1,951 89% | 59k | $994k (exactly $994,425) | 雪山雞白郎, SnowGBL | |
 | It's Only Money | $24.99 | 473 78% | 14k | $355k (exactly $354,608) | Usual Suspects Studios | |
 | The Boss Gangster: Criminal Empire | · EA | $18.99 | 385 81% | 12k | $219k (exactly $219,334) | BEF GAMES |
 | I Know a Guy: Shady Life Simulator | · EA | $12.99 | 398 90% | 12k | $155k (exactly $155,101) | Bunch'o'Nerds |
 | BEHEMOTH | $3.99 | 412 88% | 12k | $49k (exactly $49,316) | The Behemoth | |
 | Baking Bad | · EA | $10.99 | 123 32% | 3.7k | $41k (exactly $40,553) | FunkyArmor |
 | Schedule Store Simulator | · EA | $14.99 | 28 92% | 840 | $13k (exactly $12,592) | Alkame Games |
 | Eat the Rich: Greed Games | $7.99 | 26 96% | 780 | $6.2k (exactly $6,232) | Maccima Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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