Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Modern

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Modern-Day Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Modern

Of 61 developers who shipped a Modern-Day Character Customization 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.. 133 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 $1.5k, ×2.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $1.6M, ×2669 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 133 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 2.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 90% on the market, 133 announced, ×3.5 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Modern
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 61
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $2.4k → $1.6k → $3.4k → $35k → $4.1k → $1.8k → $989 (still earning) → $899 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Modern: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 61
Bottom 30% $300 (exactly $300)
Median $1.5k (exactly $1,482)
Top 25% $31k (exactly $31,029)
Top 5% $1.7M (exactly $1,676,222)
Developers, 2 yr 61
Released games 181
Announced 133
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 90% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, 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
Modern
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium 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; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, RPG, Immersive Sim
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $39.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Realistic, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $39.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 61% positive over 156,466 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $300, median $1.5k, 1 in 4 over $31k, 1 in 20 over $1.6M.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 32 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 133 games are announced against 38 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.5 per shipper.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Character Customization with a different setting or mood, 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

EA SPORTS FC™ 26 2025 · $209M inZOI 2025 · EA · $36M Digimon Story Time Stranger 2025 · $33M Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ 2022 · $23M Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown 2024 · $9.8M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
EA SPORTS FC™ 26 $69.99 99,773 50% 3.0M $209M (exactly $209,493,368) EA Canada, EA Romania
inZOI · EA $39.99 30,020 77% 901k $36M (exactly $36,014,994) inZOI Studio
Digimon Story Time Stranger $69.99 15,845 89% 475k $33M (exactly $33,269,746) Media.Vision Inc.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ older $39.39 19,507 94% 585k $23M (exactly $23,051,422) SEGA
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown older $49.99 6,536 38% 196k $9.8M (exactly $9,802,039) KT Racing
Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop older $24.99 3,984 74% 120k $3.0M (exactly $2,986,805) stillalive studios
Alpha Protocol™ older $19.99 3,420 83% 103k $2.1M (exactly $2,050,974) Obsidian Entertainment
ContractVille $9.99 5,593 80% 168k $1.7M (exactly $1,676,222) MYM Games Studios
Power & Revolution 2020 Edition older $49.99 769 63% 23k $1.2M (exactly $1,153,269) Eversim
The Wife Next Door $16.99 1,951 89% 59k $994k (exactly $994,425) 雪山雞白郎, SnowGBL
Ukrainian Warfare: Gostomel Heroes $14.99 1,921 90% 58k $864k (exactly $863,874) Cats Who Play
Cafemart Simulator · EA $7.99 616 72% 18k $148k (exactly $147,655) Science Interactive
SKETCHY MASSAGE $10.99 438 85% 13k $144k (exactly $144,409) OZ WORKS
Rollout Inline · EA $18.99 218 96% 6.5k $124k (exactly $124,195) MLMEDIA
Ship of Heroes $29.99 91 27% 2.7k $82k (exactly $81,873) Heroic Games Corporation

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