Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Grid-Based Movement
Should I ship a Character Customization Grid-Based Movement game?
Character Customization + Grid-Based Movement
Of 55 developers who shipped a Character Customization Grid-Based Movement 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.. 109 more are announced, ×2.9 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 $600; 1 in 20 cleared $5.8M, ×9271 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 109 games are announced against 37 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,700) |
| Top 25% | $24k (exactly $23,676) |
| Top 5% | $5.8M (exactly $5,822,144) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 55 |
| Released games | 151 |
| Announced | 109 |
| 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 25% on the market, supply 105% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, 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
- Grid-Based Movement
- 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, Grid-Based Movement; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Strategy, Turn-Based Combat
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Isometric
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 40,251 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 8 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 109 games are announced against 37 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 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
XCOM® 2 2016 · $48M 
STAR WARS Zero Company™ 2026 · $29M 
Battle Brothers 2017 · $23M 
MENACE 2026 · EA · $15M 
Xenonauts 2 2026 · $5.8M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | XCOM® 2 | older | $19.99 | 79,998 84% | 2.4M | $48M (exactly $47,974,801) | Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac),… (Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)) |
| | STAR WARS Zero Company™ | $49.99 | 19,521 82% | 586k | $29M (exactly $29,275,644) | Bit Reactor | |
| | Battle Brothers | older | $29.99 | 26,118 87% | 784k | $23M (exactly $23,498,365) | Overhype Studios |
| | MENACE | · EA | $39.99 | 12,281 90% | 368k | $15M (exactly $14,733,516) | Overhype Studios |
| | Xenonauts 2 | $39.99 | 4,853 81% | 146k | $5.8M (exactly $5,822,144) | Goldhawk Interactive | |
 | Legend of Grimrock | older | $14.99 | 4,844 93% | 145k | $2.2M (exactly $2,178,347) | Almost Human Games |
 | Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk | older | $49.99 | 1,311 79% | 39k | $2.0M (exactly $1,966,107) | Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. |
 | Low Magic Age | · EA older | $14.99 | 3,342 89% | 100k | $1.5M (exactly $1,502,897) | Low Magic Studios |
 | Etrian Odyssey HD | older | $39.99 | 963 88% | 29k | $1.2M (exactly $1,155,311) | ATLUS |
 | Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch | $24.99 | 1,293 81% | 39k | $969k (exactly $969,362) | Ocean Drive Studio, Inc. | |
 | Those Who Rule | $17.99 | 1,116 89% | 33k | $602k (exactly $602,305) | Eldin Turulja | |
 | Path of the Abyss | $6.99 | 664 92% | 20k | $139k (exactly $139,241) | Suzuki Suzuzou | |
 | Together in Battle | $19.99 | 134 90% | 4.0k | $80k (exactly $80,360) | Sinister Design | |
 | ANIWARS: Call of the Void | · EA | $12.99 | 184 93% | 5.5k | $72k (exactly $71,705) | Breaker Interactive |
 | Takara Cards | $14.99 | 112 83% | 3.4k | $50k (exactly $50,366) | Post Mortem Pixels | |
 | Skygard Arena | $14.99 | 93 77% | 2.8k | $42k (exactly $41,822) | Gemelli Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.