Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Investigation

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Investigation game?

Character Customization + Investigation

Of 43 developers who shipped a Character Customization Investigation 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.. 98 more are announced, ×4.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $2.9k, ×4.6 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×927 the market median. Revenue is down 30% on the market; 98 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 4.6 times the market baseline, revenue down 30% on the market, 98 announced, ×4.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Investigation
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 43
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $179 → $1.9k → $4.0k → $15k → $1.3k → $3.4k (still earning) → $1.8k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Investigation: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 43
Bottom 30% $897 (exactly $897)
Median $2.9k (exactly $2,876)
Top 25% $11k (exactly $10,789)
Top 5% $582k (exactly $581,912)
Developers, 2 yr 43
Released games 86
Announced 98
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 30% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 8%, 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
Investigation
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 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, Investigation; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Exploration, Adventure, Co-op
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 94% positive over 308,664 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $900, median $2.9k, 1 in 4 over $10k, 1 in 20 over $580k.

3 in 10 developers made under $900. 9 in 10 of the 21 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 98 games are announced against 24 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.1 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

PEAK 2025 · $72M Police Simulator: Patrol Officers 2022 · $23M Escape Simulator 2 2025 · $2.6M Shadows Over Loathing 2022 · $2.2M Equinox: Homecoming 2026 · $582k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
PEAK $7.99 301,964 94% 9.1M $72M (exactly $72,380,771) Team PEAK
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers older $39.99 18,880 75% 566k $23M (exactly $22,650,336) Aesir Interactive
Escape Simulator 2 $19.99 4,292 92% 129k $2.6M (exactly $2,573,912) Pine Studio
Shadows Over Loathing older $22.99 3,120 95% 94k $2.2M (exactly $2,151,864) Asymmetric
Equinox: Homecoming $14.99 1,294 80% 39k $582k (exactly $581,912) Blue Scarab Entertainment
Hard Time III older $14.99 929 85% 28k $418k (exactly $417,771) MDickie
HARDCODED $16.99 282 90% 8.5k $144k (exactly $143,735) Ghost Hug Games
SEVERANCE · EA $9.99 459 70% 14k $138k (exactly $137,562) Sykes Games
You are the Judge! older $12.99 251 69% 7.5k $98k (exactly $97,815) Steel Games
Sensual Adventures - The Game older $24.99 104 68% 3.1k $78k (exactly $77,969) Puppetmaster3dx
Detective Dotson $14.99 138 78% 4.1k $62k (exactly $62,059) Masala Games Private Limited
Makai Agito $9.99 72 94% 2.2k $22k (exactly $21,578) Gumi Bytes, Dani Sugimoto-Lee
Kill The Clock · EA $14.99 45 88% 1.4k $20k (exactly $20,236) Happy Slugs
MALL MANAGER SIMULATOR $4.99 98 40% 2.9k $15k (exactly $14,671) Krisztian Blaha, KINETIC MOBILE GAMES
Beanrise $17.99 20 75% 600 $11k (exactly $10,794) RGB Entertainment

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