Do I ship it?

GamesCharacter CustomizationCharacter Customization + Platformer

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Platformer?

Character Customization + Platformer

Of 280 developers who shipped a Character Customization Platformer 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.. 473 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $750, ×1.2 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $240; 1 in 20 cleared $98k, ×157 the market median. Revenue is up 45% on the market; 473 games are announced against 156 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.2 times the market baseline, revenue up 45% on the market, 473 announced, ×3.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Platformer
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 280
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $839 → $1.6k → $1.9k → $1.9k → $599 → $955 → $898 (still earning) → $537 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Platformer: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 280
Bottom 30% $240 (exactly $240)
Median $748 (exactly $748)
Top 25% $4.8k (exactly $4,800)
Top 5% $99k (exactly $98,802)
Developers, 2 yr 280
Released games 777
Announced 473
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 45% on the market, supply 25% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 20%, 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
Platformer
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, Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Funny, Colorful
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 93% positive over 319,739 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $240, median $750, 1 in 4 over $4.8k, 1 in 20 over $98k.

3 in 10 developers made under $240. 9 in 10 of the 158 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 473 games are announced against 156 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 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

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Geometry Dash older $4.99 595,606 93% 18M $89M (exactly $89,162,218) RobTop Games
PEAK $7.99 301,964 94% 9.1M $72M (exactly $72,380,771) Team PEAK
DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS™ 2 older $49.99 6,888 92% 207k $10M (exactly $10,329,934) Square Enix, KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.
Sonic Forces older $39.99 6,742 61% 202k $8.1M (exactly $8,088,377) Sonic Team, Hardlight
Farever · EA $19.99 8,968 75% 269k $5.4M (exactly $5,378,110) Shiro Games
Sackboy™: A Big Adventure older $59.99 2,822 83% 85k $5.1M (exactly $5,078,753) Sumo Digital
Biped older $14.99 9,025 85% 271k $4.1M (exactly $4,058,542) NEXT Studios
Lost Ruins older $19.99 4,643 86% 139k $2.8M (exactly $2,784,407) ALTARI GAMES
MEGA MAN X DiVE Offline older $29.99 1,760 80% 53k $1.6M (exactly $1,583,472) CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune older $24.99 1,914 82% 57k $1.4M (exactly $1,434,926) IceSitruuna
Yooka-Replaylee $29.99 1,045 92% 31k $940k (exactly $940,186) Playtonic Games
Pratfall $7.99 2,797 90% 84k $670k (exactly $670,441) Quad Head
Iron Meat $19.99 982 96% 29k $589k (exactly $588,905) Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov, Retroware
JUMP KING QUEST $14.99 1,202 88% 36k $541k (exactly $540,539) Nexile
Last Train Outta' Wormtown $11.99 1,453 96% 44k $523k (exactly $522,644) Get(Color) Games
Isopod: A Webbed Spin-off $19.99 511 88% 15k $306k (exactly $306,447) Sbug Games
WheelMates $19.99 496 75% 15k $297k (exactly $297,451) Firevolt
Haydee 3 $29.99 321 84% 9.6k $289k (exactly $288,804) Haydee Interactive

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