Games › Souls-like › Souls-like + Character Customization
Should I ship a Character Customization Souls-like?
Souls-like + Character Customization
Of 84 developers who shipped a Character Customization Souls-like 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.. 169 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 7 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $7.8k, ×5.2 the market's $1.5k for a 7 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $20M, ×13720 the market median. Revenue is down 10% on the market; 169 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $898 (exactly $898) |
|---|---|
| Median | $7.8k (exactly $7,821) |
| Top 25% | $422k (exactly $422,079) |
| Top 5% | $21M (exactly $20,552,061) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 84 |
| Released games | 228 |
| Announced | 169 |
| Effort | 7 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Low |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 10% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is low: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Souls-like
- effort 7 / 10 · low · effort 7 sits in the low band
- Character Customization
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 7 / 10 · big single-player or serious online
- Systems
- Souls-like, Character Customization; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, RPG, Action RPG
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Atmospheric, Third Person
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $49.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 82% positive over 463,981 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $900. 6 in 10 of the 47 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 169 games are announced against 43 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Souls-like with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Dating SimStrong odds
- + Visual NovelFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + JRPGFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PsychologicalFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Precision PlatformerLong shot
- + Score AttackLong shot
- + WarPoor odds
- + Turn-Based TacticsPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
Comparable games
ELDEN RING 2022 · $1.5B 
DARK SOULS™ III 2016 · $500M 
Monster Hunter: World 2018 · $285M 
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 2025 · $272M 
STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™ 2023 · $168M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ELDEN RING | older | $59.99 | 831,470 93% | 25M | $1.5B (exactly $1,496,396,559) | FromSoftware, Inc. |
| | DARK SOULS™ III | older | $59.99 | 278,034 94% | 8.3M | $500M (exactly $500,377,790) | FromSoftware, Inc. |
| | Monster Hunter: World | older | $29.99 | 317,068 89% | 9.5M | $285M (exactly $285,266,080) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | $49.99 | 181,667 95% | 5.5M | $272M (exactly $272,446,000) | Sandfall Interactive | |
| | STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™ | older | $69.99 | 79,990 71% | 2.4M | $168M (exactly $167,955,003) | Respawn |
 | Path of Exile 2 | · EA | $29.99 | 167,730 76% | 5.0M | $151M (exactly $150,906,681) | Grinding Gear Games |
 | ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™ | older | $59.99 | 66,987 91% | 2.0M | $121M (exactly $120,556,504) | FromSoftware, Inc. |
 | DARK SOULS™: REMASTERED | older | $39.99 | 100,222 92% | 3.0M | $120M (exactly $120,236,333) | QLOC, FromSoftware, Inc. |
 | DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin | older | $39.99 | 83,722 84% | 2.5M | $100M (exactly $100,441,283) | FromSoftware, Inc. |
 | MONSTER HUNTER RISE | older | $39.99 | 79,847 84% | 2.4M | $96M (exactly $95,792,446) | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
 | WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers | $49.99 | 44,865 58% | 1.3M | $67M (exactly $67,284,040) | Leenzee | |
 | Nioh 3 | $69.99 | 11,777 78% | 353k | $25M (exactly $24,728,167) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. | |
 | Witchfire | · EA | $39.99 | 17,131 91% | 514k | $21M (exactly $20,552,061) | The Astronauts |
 | Avowed | $49.99 | 12,653 76% | 380k | $19M (exactly $18,975,704) | Obsidian Entertainment | |
 | CODE VEIN II | $69.99 | 5,193 66% | 156k | $11M (exactly $10,903,742) | Bandai Namco Studios Inc. | |
 | Rise of the Ronin | $49.99 | 6,503 64% | 195k | $9.8M (exactly $9,752,549) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. | |
 | Dead as Disco | · EA | $24.99 | 12,354 96% | 371k | $9.3M (exactly $9,261,794) | Brain Jar Games, Inc. |
 | Echoes of Aincrad | $69.99 | 4,108 47% | 123k | $8.6M (exactly $8,625,568) | Game Studio Inc. |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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