Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Steampunk

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Steampunk Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Steampunk

Of 21 developers who shipped a Steampunk 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.. 48 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 $2.1k, ×3.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $270; 1 in 20 cleared $580k, ×927 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 48 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.3 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 48 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Steampunk
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 21
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $704k → $29k → $8.5k → $112k → $2.1k (still earning) → $90 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Steampunk: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 21
Bottom 30% $269 (exactly $269)
Median $2.1k (exactly $2,097)
Top 25% $112k (exactly $111,544)
Top 5% $582k (exactly $581,854)
Developers, 2 yr 21
Released games 59
Announced 48
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $14.99

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 100% on the market, supply 100% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 10%, 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
Steampunk
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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; 3 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG, Action
Price point
$14.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $14.99.

The top 10 games average 82% positive over 7,641 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $270, median $2.1k, 1 in 4 over $110k, 1 in 20 over $580k.

3 in 10 developers made under $270. 4 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 48 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 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

Torchlight II 2012 · $20M Torchlight III 2020 · $12M Abyssus 2025 · $3.8M Scythe: Digital Edition 2018 · $1.9M Black Skylands 2023 · $1.7M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Torchlight II older $19.99 33,094 92% 993k $20M (exactly $19,846,472) Runic Games
Torchlight III older $39.99 10,401 47% 312k $12M (exactly $12,478,080) Echtra Inc.
Abyssus $24.99 5,014 84% 150k $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996) DoubleMoose Games
Scythe: Digital Edition older $19.99 3,164 89% 95k $1.9M (exactly $1,897,451) The Knights of Unity
Black Skylands older $19.99 2,849 82% 85k $1.7M (exactly $1,708,545) Hungry Couch Games
Dark Envoy older $29.99 783 69% 23k $704k (exactly $704,465) Event Horizon
Vaporum older $19.99 998 84% 30k $599k (exactly $598,501) Fatbot Games, s. r. o.
Kristala $39.99 485 71% 15k $582k (exactly $581,854) Astral Clocktower Studios
New Arc Line · EA $24.99 687 68% 21k $515k (exactly $515,044) Dreamate
Sovereign Syndicate older $19.99 573 79% 17k $344k (exactly $343,628) Crimson Herring Studios
Grit and Valor - 1949 $19.99 274 75% 8.2k $164k (exactly $164,318) Milky Tea Studios
Super Mining Mechs $4.99 841 86% 25k $126k (exactly $125,898) Delayed Victory
Erannorth Renaissance $19.99 186 81% 5.6k $112k (exactly $111,544) Spyridon Thalassinos
The Last Citadel $14.99 70 85% 2.1k $31k (exactly $31,479) Honest Demon
Spellpowder: Uprising $14.99 19 94% 570 $8.5k (exactly $8,544) Rogandir Studio
Dark Reaper Shoots! 2 $5.31 52 69% 1.6k $8.3k (exactly $8,284) SummerTimeStudio
Knuckle Jet $14.99 13 92% 390 $5.8k (exactly $5,846) Rain Games

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