Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Time Management

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Time Management game?

Character Customization + Time Management

Of 130 developers who shipped a Character Customization Time Management 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.. 241 more are announced, ×2.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $3.5k, ×5.5 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $480; 1 in 20 cleared $1.3M, ×2217 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 241 games are announced against 85 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 5.5 times the market baseline, revenue down 85% on the market, 241 announced, ×2.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Time Management
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 130
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $25k → $14k → $11k → $16k → $8.5k → $7.9k → $3.5k (still earning) → $299 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Time Management: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 130
Bottom 30% $479 (exactly $479)
Median $3.5k (exactly $3,471)
Top 25% $41k (exactly $41,006)
Top 5% $1.4M (exactly $1,392,503)
Developers, 2 yr 130
Released games 286
Announced 241
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 85% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 14%, 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
Time Management
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, Time Management; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Simulation, Management, Life Sim
Price point
$7.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, 2D, Atmospheric
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.

The top 10 games average 93% positive over 354,476 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $480, median $3.5k, 1 in 4 over $41k, 1 in 20 over $1.3M.

3 in 10 developers made under $480. 6 in 10 of the 53 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 241 games are announced against 85 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.8 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

PEAK 2025 · $72M Path Of Wuxia 2022 · $30M Youtubers Life 2017 · $8.2M Software Inc. 2015 · EA · $5.2M Gamble With Your Friends 2026 · $4.5M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
PEAK $7.99 301,964 94% 9.1M $72M (exactly $72,380,771) Team PEAK
Path Of Wuxia older $34.99 28,286 78% 849k $30M (exactly $29,691,814) 香港商河洛互動娛樂股份有限公司
Youtubers Life older $19.99 13,748 77% 412k $8.2M (exactly $8,244,676) UPLAY Online
Software Inc. · EA older $22.99 7,576 94% 227k $5.2M (exactly $5,225,167) Coredumping
Gamble With Your Friends $7.99 18,883 89% 566k $4.5M (exactly $4,526,255) TEAM GWYF
Kebab Chefs! - Restaurant Simulator $17.99 7,019 83% 211k $3.8M (exactly $3,788,154) Biotech Gameworks
Farm Together 2 $25.99 4,456 93% 134k $3.5M (exactly $3,474,343) Milkstone Studios
School Days $14.99 6,023 77% 181k $2.7M (exactly $2,708,543) 白雨工作室
Papa's Freezeria Deluxe older $5.99 12,275 99% 368k $2.2M (exactly $2,205,818) Flipline Studios
Good Pizza, Great Pizza - Cooking Simulator Game older $9.99 6,261 87% 188k $1.9M (exactly $1,876,422) TapBlaze
gogh: Focus with Your Avatar $11.99 4,811 91% 144k $1.7M (exactly $1,730,517) ambr
Discounty $19.99 2,322 82% 70k $1.4M (exactly $1,392,503) Crinkle Cut Games
Murky Divers $8.99 3,981 87% 119k $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) Embers
Football Life Simulator · EA $19.99 1,567 68% 47k $940k (exactly $939,730) Ludu Arts
Papa's Pizzeria Deluxe $5.99 3,450 98% 104k $620k (exactly $619,965) Flipline Studios

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