Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Top-Down Shooter
Should I ship a Character Customization Top-Down Shooter?
Character Customization + Top-Down Shooter
Of 114 developers who shipped a Character Customization Top-Down Shooter 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.. 220 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $600, level with the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $210; 1 in 20 cleared $190k, ×313 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 220 games are announced against 57 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $210 (exactly $210) |
|---|---|
| Median | $599 (exactly $599) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,565) |
| Top 5% | $197k (exactly $196,677) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 114 |
| Released games | 294 |
| Announced | 220 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $5.99 |
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 35% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 15%, 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
- Top-Down Shooter
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Character Customization, Top-Down Shooter; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Shooter, Bullet Hell
- Price point
- $5.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.
The top 10 games average 79% positive over 16,942 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $210. 9 in 10 of the 63 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 220 games are announced against 57 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 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
The Ascent 2021 · $17M 
Nine Parchments 2017 · $2.5M 
Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos 2026 · $2.4M 
SYNTHETIK 2 2021 · EA · $1.9M 
Black Skylands 2023 · $1.7M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | The Ascent | older | $29.99 | 19,235 74% | 577k | $17M (exactly $17,305,730) | Neon Giant |
| | Nine Parchments | older | $19.99 | 4,123 77% | 124k | $2.5M (exactly $2,472,563) | Frozenbyte |
| | Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos | $12.99 | 6,281 68% | 188k | $2.4M (exactly $2,447,706) | NANOO | |
| | SYNTHETIK 2 | · EA older | $19.99 | 3,202 81% | 96k | $1.9M (exactly $1,920,239) | Flow Fire Games |
| | Black Skylands | older | $19.99 | 2,849 82% | 85k | $1.7M (exactly $1,708,545) | Hungry Couch Games |
 | Pathogenic | $9.99 | 4,145 92% | 124k | $1.2M (exactly $1,242,256) | Aberrant Labs | |
 | Red Solstice 2: Survivors | older | $14.99 | 2,585 70% | 78k | $1.2M (exactly $1,162,474) | Ironward |
 | Blazing Beaks | older | $14.99 | 2,043 84% | 61k | $919k (exactly $918,737) | Applava |
 | Soundfall | older | $29.99 | 996 73% | 30k | $896k (exactly $896,101) | Drastic Games |
 | Tunguska: The Visitation - Final Cut | older | $14.99 | 1,682 87% | 50k | $756k (exactly $756,395) | Rotorist Workshop |
 | Relic Hunters Legend | $19.99 | 1,101 65% | 33k | $660k (exactly $660,270) | Rogue Snail | |
 | Zombieville USA 3D | $9.99 | 2,184 92% | 66k | $655k (exactly $654,545) | Mika Mobile, Inc. | |
 | Reality Break | $24.99 | 683 80% | 20k | $512k (exactly $512,045) | Element Games, LLC | |
 | Genome Guardian 2 | · EA | $15.99 | 410 95% | 12k | $197k (exactly $196,677) | Alpherior |
 | Sodaman | $7.99 | 738 78% | 22k | $177k (exactly $176,899) | Tape Corps | |
 | CyberCorp | $14.99 | 351 75% | 11k | $158k (exactly $157,845) | Megame LLC | |
 | Bioweaver | $6.99 | 668 77% | 20k | $140k (exactly $140,080) | Emprom Game, Wild Kid Games | |
 | Geometry Arena 2 | $5.99 | 381 88% | 11k | $68k (exactly $68,466) | 011 Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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