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Should I ship a Character Customization Dynamic Narration game?
Character Customization + Dynamic Narration
Of 23 developers who shipped a Character Customization Dynamic Narration 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.. 56 more are announced, ×3.5 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×4.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $960; 1 in 20 cleared $250k, ×399 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 56 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $959 (exactly $959) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,697) |
| Top 25% | $9.0k (exactly $8,991) |
| Top 5% | $251k (exactly $250,549) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 58 |
| Announced | 56 |
| 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 85% on the market, supply 130% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 21%, 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
- Dynamic Narration
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, Dynamic Narration; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, CRPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $21.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $21.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 92% positive over 18,662 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $960. 7 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 56 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Drova - Forsaken Kin | $24.99 | 9,455 93% | 284k | $7.1M (exactly $7,088,414) | Just2D | |
| | CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience | older | $19.99 | 2,596 91% | 78k | $1.6M (exactly $1,556,821) | Delve Interactive |
| | Young Souls | older | $24.99 | 494 84% | 15k | $370k (exactly $370,352) | 1P2P |
| | The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation | · EA older | $29.99 | 397 63% | 12k | $357k (exactly $357,181) | Supercube |
| | Your Mother | $0.99 | 8,436 92% | 253k | $251k (exactly $250,549) | M for Mother | |
| | Betrayal At Club Low | older | $9.99 | 538 97% | 16k | $161k (exactly $161,239) | Cosmo D Studios |
| | Dustgrave: A Sandbox RPG | · EA | $21.99 | 94 71% | 2.8k | $62k (exactly $62,012) | Innervoid Interactive |
| | DinoSystem | · EA older | $7.99 | 247 92% | 7.4k | $59k (exactly $59,206) | Daniele Ferraro |
| | Penny Larceny: Gig Economy Supervillain | older | $11.99 | 102 96% | 3.1k | $37k (exactly $36,689) | Fiction Factory Games |
| | 5 NIGHTS AT SHALUN 4: SCHOOL | $1.99 | 535 93% | 16k | $32k (exactly $31,940) | Team GZ, VADIM CHURILOV | |
| | Believr Pro Wrestling | · EA | $14.99 | 25 72% | 750 | $11k (exactly $11,242) | Believr Games |
| | AI Society | $9.99 | 30 63% | 900 | $9.0k (exactly $8,991) | b8ve | |
| | Clutch Legend: FPS Career Simulator | $6.49 | 37 89% | 1.1k | $7.2k (exactly $7,204) | Federico Mariotti | |
| | CielChan: Anime Desktop AI Companion | $9.99 | 19 63% | 570 | $5.7k (exactly $5,694) | Elushis | |
| | RolemIAster | · EA | $5.99 | 23 56% | 690 | $4.1k (exactly $4,133) | ABAFE |
| | Dynasty! | $14.99 | 8 87% | 240 | $3.6k (exactly $3,598) | newberry94005 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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