Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Desktop Companion

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Desktop Companion?

Character Customization + Desktop Companion

Of 44 developers who shipped a Character Customization Desktop Companion 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.. 91 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $4.5k, ×7.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.6k; 1 in 20 cleared $510k, ×821 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 91 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 7.2 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 91 announced, ×2.3 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Desktop Companion
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 44
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $251k → $14k → $5.7k (still earning) → $1.6k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Desktop Companion: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 44
Bottom 30% $1.6k (exactly $1,556)
Median $4.5k (exactly $4,496)
Top 25% $28k (exactly $28,293)
Top 5% $515k (exactly $515,417)
Developers, 2 yr 44
Released games 66
Announced 91
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 100% on the market, supply 680% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 23%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

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
Desktop Companion
effort 1 / 10 · high · effort 1 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
Systems
Character Customization, Desktop Companion; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Creature Collector, Simulation
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $7.99 or above
Art
6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Cute, Relaxing, Cozy
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $7.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 19,285 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.6k, median $4.5k, 1 in 4 over $28k, 1 in 20 over $510k.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.6k. 3 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 91 games are announced against 39 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Character Customization with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Football (American)Strong odds14 devs · median $3.6k · 12 announced
  2. + Real-TimeStrong odds7 devs · median $2.0k · 6 announced
  3. + Music-Based Procedural GenerationFair10 devs · median $18k · 8 announced
  4. + TransportationFair19 devs · median $7.2k · 24 announced
  5. + MinigamesFair27 devs · median $5.7k · 34 announced
  6. + DwarvesFair7 devs · median $3.2k · 13 announced
  7. + BikesFair11 devs · median $1.5k · 10 announced
  8. + IdlerFair210 devs · median $1.2k · 286 announced
  9. + IncrementalFair146 devs · median $1.2k · 190 announced
  10. + GamblingFair30 devs · median $836 · 32 announced
  11. + Precision PlatformerFair103 devs · median $748 · 116 announced
  12. + TypingFair27 devs · median $539 · 38 announced

All 250 pairs on the Character Customization page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions 2024 · $5.5M Ithya: Magic Studies 2025 · $693k Crusaders Quest : Hero Town 2026 · $538k Mini Cozy Room: Lo-Fi 2025 · $515k Your Mother 2025 · $251k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions older $11.99 15,211 97% 456k $5.5M (exactly $5,471,397) Mooncube Games
Ithya: Magic Studies $10.99 2,103 97% 63k $693k (exactly $693,359) BlueTurtle
Crusaders Quest : Hero Town $6.99 2,564 76% 77k $538k (exactly $537,671) CQ LABS
Mini Cozy Room: Lo-Fi $4.99 3,443 96% 103k $515k (exactly $515,417) Tesseract Studio, Nugem Studio
Your Mother $0.99 8,436 92% 253k $251k (exactly $250,549) M for Mother
Tap Tap Loot $6.99 815 76% 24k $171k (exactly $170,906) Turtle Knight Games
Virtual Cottage 2 $7.99 645 97% 19k $155k (exactly $154,606) DU&I
NejicomiSimulator TMA02 older $22.99 114 76% 3.4k $79k (exactly $78,626) やぶから堂, たまぷろじぇくと
NoSlack Pets: Lo-Fi Paws $5.99 385 97% 12k $69k (exactly $69,184) Lynkpin Game
My Little Spider $4.99 389 94% 12k $58k (exactly $58,233) 9FingerGames, Fatal Fawn Games
Focus Grove $8.99 172 98% 5.2k $46k (exactly $46,388) Little Lantern
Desktop Fishing $3.49 333 91% 10k $35k (exactly $34,865) Ostend Games

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.