Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Psychological

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Psychological Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Psychological

Of 22 developers who shipped a Psychological 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.. 45 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $900, ×1.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $120; 1 in 20 cleared $150k, ×252 the market median. Revenue is down 90% on the market; 45 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 90% on the market, 45 announced, ×3.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Psychological
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 22
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $8.2k → $27k → $1.9k (still earning) → $629 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Psychological: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 22
Bottom 30% $119 (exactly $119)
Median $898 (exactly $898)
Top 25% $11k (exactly $11,266)
Top 5% $158k (exactly $158,187)
Developers, 2 yr 22
Released games 50
Announced 45
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $6.99

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 75% 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
Psychological
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; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Dating Sim
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $22.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Anime, Dark
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $22.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 2,987 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $120, median $900, 1 in 4 over $11k, 1 in 20 over $150k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 6 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 45 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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

DEATH NOTE Killer Within 2024 · $697k Star Knightess Aura 2025 · $158k The Thing That Happened 2026 · $65k Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story 2020 · $55k Indecision. 2018 · $39k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
DEATH NOTE Killer Within $9.99 2,324 84% 70k $697k (exactly $696,503) Grounding Inc.
Star Knightess Aura $24.99 211 86% 6.3k $158k (exactly $158,187) AuraGamedev
The Thing That Happened $22.99 94 57% 2.8k $65k (exactly $64,832) Mario Murkl, Zoltán Árva
Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story older $11.99 154 35% 4.6k $55k (exactly $55,394) Steel Arts Software
Indecision. older $2.99 438 86% 13k $39k (exactly $39,289) bilge
ZM Desktop Elf $3.99 223 72% 6.7k $27k (exactly $26,693) Duoyi Games
LOST EGG 2: Be together older $2.99 206 85% 6.2k $18k (exactly $18,478) KIMIDORI SOFT
GwenBlade older $9.99 54 75% 1.6k $16k (exactly $16,184) ArcWillow
Naked Lust and Burning Passions $19.99 23 52% 690 $14k (exactly $13,793) Games For Pleasure
S.E.M.I. – Side Effects May Include... $7.99 47 78% 1.4k $11k (exactly $11,266) Two Horn Unicorn
Love is a Demon $7.99 27 100% 810 $6.5k (exactly $6,472) Fantastic Humans
Ritual Night · EA $4.99 27 85% 810 $4.0k (exactly $4,042) Outfox Games
Hammerhead $6.99 9 100% 270 $1.9k (exactly $1,887) Marek Hamracek
Metaneurosis $14.99 2 100% 60 $899 (exactly $899) Lazy Dev Studio

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