Do I ship it?

GamesCharacter CustomizationCharacter Customization + Sci-fi

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Sci-fi Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Sci-fi

Of 273 developers who shipped a Sci-fi 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.. 682 more are announced, ×4.6 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 $4.9M, ×7847 the market median. Revenue is up 60% on the market; 682 games are announced against 149 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 2.4 times the market baseline, revenue up 60% on the market, 682 announced, ×4.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Sci-fi
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 273
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $25k → $5.8k → $3.6k → $1.1k → $1.5k → $1.2k → $3.1k (still earning) → $1.1k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Sci-fi: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 273
Bottom 30% $300 (exactly $300)
Median $1.5k (exactly $1,498)
Top 25% $25k (exactly $24,700)
Top 5% $4.9M (exactly $4,927,778)
Developers, 2 yr 273
Released games 869
Announced 682
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $8.99

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 60% on the market, supply 20% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 18%, 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
Sci-fi
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; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, RPG, Shooter
Price point
$8.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 515,171 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 $24k, 1 in 20 over $4.9M.

3 in 10 developers made under $300. 7 in 10 of the 148 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 682 games are announced against 149 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.6 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

Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Cyberpunk 2077 older $59.99 883,400 87% 27M $1.6B (exactly $1,589,854,980) CD PROJEKT RED
ARC Raiders $39.99 299,346 82% 9.0M $359M (exactly $359,125,396) Embark Studios
Fallout 4 older $19.99 290,555 81% 8.7M $174M (exactly $174,245,834) Bethesda Game Studios
Starfield older $49.99 115,202 58% 3.5M $173M (exactly $172,768,439) Bethesda Game Studios
STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™ older $69.99 79,990 71% 2.4M $168M (exactly $167,955,003) Respawn
ARK: Survival Ascended · EA older $44.99 106,761 60% 3.2M $144M (exactly $144,095,322) Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, In… (Studio Wildcard, Grove Street Games, Instinct Games)
ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™ older $59.99 66,987 91% 2.0M $121M (exactly $120,556,504) FromSoftware, Inc.
Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition older $59.99 62,205 91% 1.9M $112M (exactly $111,950,338) BioWare
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II older $39.99 87,494 88% 2.6M $105M (exactly $104,966,552) DICE
Dune: Awakening $49.99 66,844 71% 2.0M $100M (exactly $100,245,947) Funcom
Marathon $39.99 44,919 81% 1.3M $54M (exactly $53,889,324) Bungie
STAR WARS Zero Company™ $49.99 19,521 82% 586k $29M (exactly $29,275,644) Bit Reactor
Killing Floor 3 $39.99 16,493 46% 495k $20M (exactly $19,786,652) Tripwire Interactive
The Forever Winter · EA $29.99 21,376 68% 641k $19M (exactly $19,231,987) Fun Dog Studios
The Outer Worlds 2 $69.99 8,450 73% 254k $18M (exactly $17,742,465) Obsidian Entertainment
MENACE · EA $39.99 12,281 90% 368k $15M (exactly $14,733,516) Overhype Studios
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

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