Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Incremental

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Incremental game?

Character Customization + Incremental

Of 146 developers who shipped a Character Customization Incremental 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.. 190 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $1.2k, ×1.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $270. Revenue is up 180% on the market; 190 games are announced against 97 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.9 times the market baseline, revenue up 180% on the market, 190 announced, ×2.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Incremental
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 146
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $11k → $22k → $300 → $1.2k → $2.1k → $861 → $1.2k (still earning) → $1.5k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Incremental: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 146
Bottom 30% $270 (exactly $270)
Median $1.2k (exactly $1,197)
Top 25% $6.5k (exactly $6,475)
Top 5% $247k (exactly $246,817)
Developers, 2 yr 146
Released games 319
Announced 190
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 up 180% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 29%, 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
Incremental
effort 1 / 10 · high · formulas and upgrade tables

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, Incremental; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Idler, Simulation, RPG
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $9.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Cute, Relaxing
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $9.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 80% positive over 19,905 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $270, median $1.2k, 1 in 4 over $6.4k, 1 in 20 over $240k.

3 in 10 developers made under $270. 8 in 10 of the 69 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 190 games are announced against 97 developers who shipped in the last year.

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. + GamblingFair30 devs · median $836 · 32 announced
  10. + Precision PlatformerFair103 devs · median $748 · 116 announced
  11. + TypingFair27 devs · median $539 · 38 announced
  12. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds34 devs · median $116k · 60 announced

All 250 pairs on the Character Customization page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

BitCraft Online 2025 · EA · $1.6M Gamblers Table 2026 · $620k Crusaders Quest : Hero Town 2026 · $538k WindStop Strategy 2026 · $448k That's not my Neighbor 2025 · $403k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
BitCraft Online · EA $15.99 3,334 72% 100k $1.6M (exactly $1,599,320) Clockwork Laboratories, Inc.
Gamblers Table $6.99 2,955 74% 89k $620k (exactly $619,664) greenpixels, Bossforge
Crusaders Quest : Hero Town $6.99 2,564 76% 77k $538k (exactly $537,671) CQ LABS
WindStop Strategy $9.99 1,494 78% 45k $448k (exactly $447,752) Xia Start
That's not my Neighbor $2.99 4,498 88% 135k $403k (exactly $403,471) Nachosama Games
Talented $5.99 1,475 91% 44k $265k (exactly $265,058) TurtleFox Games
Nomad Idle $9.99 852 64% 26k $255k (exactly $255,344) The Fox Knocks
Goblin Nest $6.99 1,177 93% 35k $247k (exactly $246,817) BadColor
Hole Is Mine $7.99 741 90% 22k $178k (exactly $177,618) Incrementalist
Tap Tap Loot $6.99 815 76% 24k $171k (exactly $170,906) Turtle Knight Games

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