Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Roguelike

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Roguelike?

Character Customization + Roguelike

Of 298 developers who shipped a Character Customization Roguelike 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.. 566 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 $2.3k, ×3.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $670k, ×1068 the market median. Revenue is flat on the market; 566 games are announced against 179 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.7 times the market baseline, revenue flat on the market, 566 announced, ×3.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Roguelike
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 298
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $10k → $3.1k → $2.6k → $4.1k → $2.5k → $1.8k → $1.9k (still earning) → $2.5k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Roguelike: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 298
Bottom 30% $537 (exactly $537)
Median $2.3k (exactly $2,317)
Top 25% $23k (exactly $22,532)
Top 5% $670k (exactly $670,441)
Developers, 2 yr 298
Released games 671
Announced 566
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $7.99

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 flat on the market, supply 50% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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
Roguelike
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, Roguelike; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Roguelite, Action, RPG
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 82,188 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $540, median $2.3k, 1 in 4 over $22k, 1 in 20 over $670k.

3 in 10 developers made under $540. 7 in 10 of the 139 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 566 games are announced against 179 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 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

Witchfire 2024 · EA · $21M 暖雪 Warm Snow 2022 · $19M Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core 2026 · EA · $13M Caves of Qud 2024 · $11M Exanima 2015 · EA · $5.7M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Witchfire · EA $39.99 17,131 91% 514k $21M (exactly $20,552,061) The Astronauts
暖雪 Warm Snow older $17.99 35,270 92% 1.1M $19M (exactly $19,035,219) BadMudStudio
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core · EA $29.99 14,049 60% 421k $13M (exactly $12,639,885) Ghost Ship Games
Caves of Qud $29.99 11,892 94% 357k $11M (exactly $10,699,232) Freehold Games
Exanima · EA older $14.99 12,684 80% 381k $5.7M (exactly $5,703,995) Bare Mettle Entertainment
Elin · EA $19.99 8,406 93% 252k $5.0M (exactly $5,041,078) Lafrontier
《蜀山：初章》买断版 older $24.99 5,772 74% 173k $4.3M (exactly $4,327,268) 重楼工作室
Death Road to Canada older $14.99 9,123 92% 274k $4.1M (exactly $4,102,613) Rocketcat Games, Madgarden
Home Behind 2 older $19.99 6,585 86% 198k $3.9M (exactly $3,949,024) TPP Studio
Abyssus $24.99 5,014 84% 150k $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996) DoubleMoose Games
Heroes of Hammerwatch II $19.99 5,806 82% 174k $3.5M (exactly $3,481,858) Crackshell
Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos $12.99 6,281 68% 188k $2.4M (exactly $2,447,706) NANOO
Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite $9.99 6,876 76% 206k $2.1M (exactly $2,060,737) Odd Dreams Digital
Pathogenic $9.99 4,145 92% 124k $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) Aberrant Labs
Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot $14.99 2,588 82% 78k $1.2M (exactly $1,163,824) Hamma Studios

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