Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Shoot 'Em Up

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Shoot 'Em Up?

Character Customization + Shoot 'Em Up

Of 90 developers who shipped a Character Customization Shoot 'Em Up 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.. 152 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $1.0k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $260k, ×422 the market median. Revenue is down 75% on the market; 152 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.7 times the market baseline, revenue down 75% on the market, 152 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Shoot 'Em Up
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 90
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.2k → $599 → $1.5k → $3.7k → $987 → $1.0k → $299 (still earning) → $180 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Shoot 'Em Up: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 90
Bottom 30% $210 (exactly $210)
Median $1.0k (exactly $1,048)
Top 25% $6.1k (exactly $6,110)
Top 5% $265k (exactly $265,058)
Developers, 2 yr 90
Released games 276
Announced 152
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $5.99

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 75% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.

Free games: 13%, 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
Shoot 'Em Up
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, Shoot 'Em Up; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Action Roguelike
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Top-Down, Pixel Graphics
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 86% positive over 5,875 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $210, median $1.0k, 1 in 4 over $6.1k, 1 in 20 over $260k.

3 in 10 developers made under $210. 8 in 10 of the 49 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 152 games are announced against 45 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 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

Saints Row®: The Third™ Remastered 2021 · $3.6M Contra: Operation Galuga 2024 · $972k R-Type Final 2 2021 · $792k Death in the Water 2 2023 · $780k Badlands Crew - Drive, Command, Conquer 2025 · $641k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Saints Row®: The Third™ Remastered older $29.99 3,968 73% 119k $3.6M (exactly $3,570,010) Deep Silver Volition, Sperasoft
Contra: Operation Galuga older $39.99 810 87% 24k $972k (exactly $971,757) WayForward
R-Type Final 2 older $39.99 660 75% 20k $792k (exactly $791,802) Granzella Inc.
Death in the Water 2 older $14.99 1,734 83% 52k $780k (exactly $779,780) Lighthouse Games Studio
Badlands Crew - Drive, Command, Conquer $18.99 1,126 78% 34k $641k (exactly $641,482) Runner Duck
Iron Meat $19.99 982 96% 29k $589k (exactly $588,905) Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov, Retroware
Reality Break $24.99 683 80% 20k $512k (exactly $512,045) Element Games, LLC
Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded older $4.99 2,517 92% 76k $377k (exactly $376,795) Sigma Team Inc.
Don't Stop, Girlypop! $19.99 518 83% 16k $311k (exactly $310,645) Funny Fintan Softworks
Talented $5.99 1,475 91% 44k $265k (exactly $265,058) TurtleFox Games
Genome Guardian 2 · EA $15.99 410 95% 12k $197k (exactly $196,677) Alpherior
Touhou Lensed Night Sky, Kaseigai $22.00 144 95% 4.3k $95k (exactly $95,040) Fire Land
Seed of Heroes $14.99 188 75% 5.6k $85k (exactly $84,544) Vermillion Digital
Revolgear Zero $14.99 125 98% 3.8k $56k (exactly $56,212) Bikkuri Software
Graveyard Gunslingers $7.99 224 58% 6.7k $54k (exactly $53,693) PyroPhysics

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