Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Runner

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Runner?

Character Customization + Runner

Of 74 developers who shipped a Character Customization Runner 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.. 90 more are announced.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $450 in the last 2 years and $360 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 47 developers shipped in the last year and 90 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 35% on the market, 90 announced, ×1.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Runner
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 74
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $449 → $479 → $119 → $599 → $480 → $449 → $179 (still earning) → $450 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Runner: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 74
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $449 (exactly $449)
Top 25% $1.8k (exactly $1,798)
Top 5% $22k (exactly $22,491)
Developers, 2 yr 74
Released games 244
Announced 90
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $4.99

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 35% on the market, supply 75% 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
Runner
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, Runner; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Racing
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 84% positive over 1,079 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $450, 1 in 4 over $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $22k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. 8 in 10 of the 38 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 90 games are announced against 47 developers who shipped in the last year.

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

Melody's Escape 2016 · $1.3M Runner3 2018 · $157k Buck Up And Drive! 2022 · $153k Eggo 2026 · $56k CRAYON SHINCHAN The Storm Called! FLAMING KASUKABE RUNNER!! 2022 · $51k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Melody's Escape older $9.99 4,336 92% 130k $1.3M (exactly $1,299,499) Icetesy
Runner3 older $19.99 261 75% 7.8k $157k (exactly $156,522) Choice Provisions
Buck Up And Drive! older $7.99 640 91% 19k $153k (exactly $153,408) Fábio Fontes
Eggo $5.99 310 83% 9.3k $56k (exactly $55,707) 天赋一饼 Meme Crepe
CRAYON SHINCHAN The Storm Called! FLAMING KASUKABE RUNNER!! older $9.99 171 95% 5.1k $51k (exactly $51,249) OPERAHOUSE
BEHEMOTH $3.99 412 88% 12k $49k (exactly $49,316) The Behemoth
Duck Life: Retro Pack older $5.99 242 83% 7.3k $43k (exactly $43,487) Wix Games
Parkour Tag older $7.99 170 87% 5.1k $41k (exactly $40,749) Loopnova Studio
Dark Succubus $6.99 171 77% 5.1k $36k (exactly $35,859) ZC Game
Only Up! older $4.99 198 11% 5.9k $30k (exactly $29,641) MoreMoto Games
Sex on the beach $24.99 30 63% 900 $22k (exactly $22,491) Games For Pleasure
SCHROTT: Roguelike Racer · EA $12.99 49 91% 1.5k $19k (exactly $19,095) Ivy Juice
Hobby Horse $14.99 29 89% 870 $13k (exactly $13,041) Games Incubator
Memori · EA $14.99 22 95% 660 $9.9k (exactly $9,893) PracticalNPC
Sexuality in Ancient Rome $19.99 14 64% 420 $8.4k (exactly $8,396) Games For Pleasure
EvoWars: New Era $8.99 25 72% 750 $6.7k (exactly $6,742) Night Steed Games
Nippon Marathon 2: Daijoubu · EA $10.99 17 94% 510 $5.6k (exactly $5,605) Onion Soup Interactive

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