Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Split Screen
Should I ship a Character Customization Split Screen game?
Character Customization + Split Screen
Of 46 developers who shipped a Character Customization Split Screen 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.. 86 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.8k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $600; 1 in 20 cleared $290k, ×474 the market median. Revenue is up 160% on the market; 86 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $599 (exactly $599) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.8k (exactly $1,797) |
| Top 25% | $9.9k (exactly $9,897) |
| Top 5% | $297k (exactly $297,451) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 46 |
| Released games | 147 |
| Announced | 86 |
| 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 160% on the market, supply 60% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 11%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Split Screen
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, Split Screen; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Local Multiplayer, PvP, Racing
- Price point
- $8.99 typical · top 25% priced $49.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Family Friendly, 3D, Colorful
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $49.99 or above; the middle game at $8.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 13,656 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $600. 9 in 10 of the 22 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 86 games are announced against 29 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Character Customization with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Real-TimeStrong odds
- + Music-Based Procedural GenerationFair
- + TransportationFair
- + MinigamesFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + BikesFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + GamblingFair
- + Precision PlatformerFair
- + TypingFair
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Need for Speed™ Heat | older | $69.99 | 128,933 84% | 3.9M | $271M (exactly $270,720,620) | Ghost Games |
| | Need for Speed™ Unbound | older | $69.99 | 49,862 61% | 1.5M | $105M (exactly $104,695,241) | Criterion Games |
| | Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition | older | $39.99 | 27,485 88% | 825k | $33M (exactly $32,973,754) | Larian Studios |
| | Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds | $69.99 | 11,479 93% | 344k | $24M (exactly $24,102,456) | Sonic Team | |
| | The Ascent | older | $29.99 | 19,235 74% | 577k | $17M (exactly $17,305,730) | Neon Giant |
| | The Escapists 2 | older | $19.99 | 26,452 90% | 794k | $16M (exactly $15,863,264) | Team17, Mouldy Toof Studios |
| | LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame | older | $19.99 | 12,850 89% | 386k | $7.7M (exactly $7,706,145) | Traveller's Tales |
| | LEGO® DC Super-Villains | older | $39.99 | 5,798 91% | 174k | $7.0M (exactly $6,955,861) | TT Games, Feral Interactive (Mac) |
| | Amazing Frog? | · EA older | $19.99 | 11,169 94% | 335k | $6.7M (exactly $6,698,049) | Fayju |
| | Tony Hawk's™ Pro Skater™ 1 + 2 | older | $39.99 | 4,497 90% | 135k | $5.4M (exactly $5,395,051) | Vicarious Visions, Iron Galaxy Studios |
| | MotoGP™25 | $49.99 | 592 74% | 18k | $888k (exactly $887,822) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | MotoGP™26 | $59.99 | 225 64% | 6.8k | $405k (exactly $404,932) | Milestone S.r.l. | |
| | WheelMates | $19.99 | 496 75% | 15k | $297k (exactly $297,451) | Firevolt | |
| | Pure Badminton | $19.99 | 323 81% | 9.7k | $194k (exactly $193,703) | DS SOFT | |
| | Taival | · EA | $19.99 | 134 83% | 4.0k | $80k (exactly $80,360) | Bonobo Software |
| | Slip & Skid | $12.99 | 141 97% | 4.2k | $55k (exactly $54,948) | NHOGS Interactive | |
| | Teeto | $17.99 | 90 94% | 2.7k | $49k (exactly $48,573) | Eat Pant Games | |
| | Slopecrashers | $17.99 | 82 93% | 2.5k | $44k (exactly $44,255) | byteparrot | |
| | Bonelords | $6.99 | 94 92% | 2.8k | $20k (exactly $19,712) | Z0 Game Studios |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.