Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Time Travel

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Time-Travel Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Time Travel

Only 14 developers shipped a Time-Travel Character Customization game in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, Digimon Story Time Stranger, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 23 more are announced, ×3.8 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $2.3k, ×3.7 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $180; 1 in 20 cleared $33M, ×52977 the market median. Revenue is up 6970% on the market; 23 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.7 times the market baseline, revenue up 6970% on the market, 23 announced, ×3.8 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Time Travel
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 14
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $4.7k → $628 → $2.3k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Time Travel: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 14
Bottom 30% $180 (exactly $180)
Median $2.3k (exactly $2,338)
Top 25% $20k (exactly $20,236)
Top 5% $33M (exactly $33,269,746)
Developers, 2 yr 14
Released games 28
Announced 23
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $12.99

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 6970% on the market, supply 25% fewer developers than the period before.

Free games: 11%, 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 Travel
effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 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; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, RPG
Price point
$12.99 typical · top 25% priced $69.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, Anime
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $69.99 or above; the middle game at $12.99.

The top 10 games average 89% positive over 16,077 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $180, median $2.3k, 1 in 4 over $20k, 1 in 20 over $33M.

3 in 10 developers made under $180. All of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 23 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.8 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

Last Epoch 2024 · $112M Digimon Story Time Stranger 2025 · $33M Time Break Chronicles 2020 · EA · $134k Ship of Heroes 2025 · $82k Hidden Through Time 2: Discovery 2024 · $55k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Last Epoch older $34.99 106,364 76% 3.2M $112M (exactly $111,650,291) Eleventh Hour Games
Digimon Story Time Stranger $69.99 15,845 89% 475k $33M (exactly $33,269,746) Media.Vision Inc.
Time Break Chronicles · EA older $14.99 298 88% 8.9k $134k (exactly $134,011) Warrior General Games, LLC
Ship of Heroes $29.99 91 27% 2.7k $82k (exactly $81,873) Heroic Games Corporation
Hidden Through Time 2: Discovery older $10.99 166 86% 5.0k $55k (exactly $54,730) Rogueside
Dave.EXE · EA $14.99 55 94% 1.7k $25k (exactly $24,734) Dave Microwaves Games
Kill The Clock · EA $14.99 45 88% 1.4k $20k (exactly $20,236) Happy Slugs
Tyler: Model 005 older $9.99 51 56% 1.5k $15k (exactly $15,285) Reversed Interactive
Citizens Unite!: Earth x Space older $29.99 14 78% 420 $13k (exactly $12,596) Eden Industries
WAVECADE older $9.99 27 92% 810 $8.1k (exactly $8,092) Andrew Spalato, Lewis Spalato
Paradox Guardians · EA $12.99 13 38% 390 $5.1k (exactly $5,066) Paraguard
Virus Rush + Hazard of the Ages $11.99 13 100% 390 $4.7k (exactly $4,676) STRANGER
spookY2K $12.99 6 83% 180 $2.3k (exactly $2,338) KigyoDev, BlackLock Games
Dream of Change: Poker $2.99 7 100% 210 $628 (exactly $628) ShalonSoft
POGO Epoch: Impossible 99% · EA $5.99 1 0% 30 $180 (exactly $180) 힉학헉
Redshaw Valley · EA $5.99 1 0% 30 $180 (exactly $180) Ian Maines

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