Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Score Attack

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Score Attack game?

Character Customization + Score Attack

Of 123 developers who shipped a Character Customization Score Attack 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.. 163 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $360 in the last 2 years and $450 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 78 developers shipped in the last year and 163 games are announced.

Deciding numbers: median 0.6 times the market baseline, revenue up 15% on the market, 163 announced, ×2.1 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Score Attack
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 123
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.2k → $1.1k → $179 → $269 → $449 → $449 → $718 (still earning) → $150 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Score Attack: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 123
Bottom 30% $120 (exactly $120)
Median $359 (exactly $359)
Top 25% $1.8k (exactly $1,798)
Top 5% $103k (exactly $102,981)
Developers, 2 yr 123
Released games 311
Announced 163
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 15% on the market, supply 70% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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
Score Attack
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, Score Attack; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Arcade, Physics
Price point
$4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, 2D, Funny
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.

The top 10 games average 93% positive over 19,625 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 $360, 1 in 4 over $1.7k, 1 in 20 over $100k.

3 in 10 developers made under $120. 9 in 10 of the 55 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 163 games are announced against 78 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 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

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ 2022 · $23M Dead as Disco 2026 · EA · $9.3M Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2 2025 · $5.2M Element TD 2 - Tower Defense 2021 · $1.3M Death in the Water 2 2023 · $780k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ older $39.39 19,507 94% 585k $23M (exactly $23,051,422) SEGA
Dead as Disco · EA $24.99 12,354 96% 371k $9.3M (exactly $9,261,794) Brain Jar Games, Inc.
Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2 $59.99 2,879 83% 86k $5.2M (exactly $5,181,336) CyberConnect2
Element TD 2 - Tower Defense older $14.99 2,848 90% 85k $1.3M (exactly $1,280,746) Element Studios
Death in the Water 2 older $14.99 1,734 83% 52k $780k (exactly $779,780) Lighthouse Games Studio
Driftwood $19.99 1,197 92% 36k $718k (exactly $717,841) Stoked Sloth Interactive
Iron Meat $19.99 982 96% 29k $589k (exactly $588,905) Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov, Retroware
Gal*Gun Returns older $49.99 240 85% 7.2k $360k (exactly $359,928) INTI CREATES CO., LTD.
You Suck at Parking® - Complete Edition older $19.99 496 88% 15k $297k (exactly $297,451) Happy Volcano
Maniac older $4.99 1,754 90% 53k $263k (exactly $262,574) Transhuman Design
Sodaman $7.99 738 78% 22k $177k (exactly $176,899) Tape Corps
Blood Dungeon $9.99 453 89% 14k $136k (exactly $135,764) Messhof
VMX · EA $14.99 229 89% 6.9k $103k (exactly $102,981) Break Free Interactive
Starbreed $10.99 271 95% 8.1k $89k (exactly $89,349) RegulusNSFW
Geometry Arena 2 $5.99 381 88% 11k $68k (exactly $68,466) 011 Games
Slip & Skid $12.99 141 97% 4.2k $55k (exactly $54,948) NHOGS Interactive

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