Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Survival Horror

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Survival Horror?

Character Customization + Survival Horror

Of 65 developers who shipped a Character Customization Survival Horror 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.. 136 more are announced, ×4.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $4.0k, ×6.4 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $1.8k; 1 in 20 cleared $15M, ×23961 the market median. Revenue is down 55% on the market; 136 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.4 times the market baseline, revenue down 55% on the market, 136 announced, ×4.0 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Survival Horror
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 65
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $6.9k → $1.8k → $2.6k → $11k → $6.6k → $2.7k → $3.6k (still earning) → $5.3k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Survival Horror: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 65
Bottom 30% $1.8k (exactly $1,782)
Median $4.0k (exactly $4,042)
Top 25% $43k (exactly $43,198)
Top 5% $15M (exactly $15,047,482)
Developers, 2 yr 65
Released games 170
Announced 136
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $7.99

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 55% on the market, supply 10% 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
Survival Horror
effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 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, Survival Horror; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Adventure, Exploration
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, Atmospheric, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 90% positive over 387,025 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.8k, median $4.0k, 1 in 4 over $43k, 1 in 20 over $15M.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.8k. 6 in 10 of the 31 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 136 games are announced against 34 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.0 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

The Outlast Trials 2024 · $109M Killing Floor 2 2016 · $78M PEAK 2025 · $72M GTFO 2021 · $55M Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon 2025 · $45M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
The Outlast Trials older $39.99 90,997 92% 2.7M $109M (exactly $109,169,101) Red Barrels
Killing Floor 2 older $29.99 87,158 88% 2.6M $78M (exactly $78,416,053) Tripwire Interactive
PEAK $7.99 301,964 94% 9.1M $72M (exactly $72,380,771) Team PEAK
GTFO older $39.99 46,184 86% 1.4M $55M (exactly $55,406,945) 10 Chambers
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon $44.99 33,560 87% 1.0M $45M (exactly $45,295,932) Questline
World War Z older $29.99 24,897 82% 747k $22M (exactly $22,399,831) Saber Interactive Inc
Killing Floor 3 $39.99 16,493 46% 495k $20M (exactly $19,786,652) Tripwire Interactive
Aliens: Fireteam Elite older $29.99 21,668 80% 650k $19M (exactly $19,494,700) Cold Iron Studios
No More Room in Hell 2 $29.99 16,725 62% 502k $15M (exactly $15,047,482) Torn Banner Studios
VEIN · EA $19.99 11,539 87% 346k $6.9M (exactly $6,919,938) Ramjet Studios
Murky Divers $8.99 3,981 87% 119k $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) Embers
Project Werewulf $29.99 778 83% 23k $700k (exactly $699,967) FTRGameStudio
Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone · EA $39.99 528 62% 16k $633k (exactly $633,442) The Farm 51
Animal Company · EA $19.99 749 86% 22k $449k (exactly $449,175) Wooster Games
Ground Zero $19.99 708 89% 21k $425k (exactly $424,588) Malformation Games

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