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Should I ship a Character Customization Tower Defense?
Character Customization + Tower Defense
Of 42 developers who shipped a Character Customization Tower Defense 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.. 94 more are announced, ×4.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×2.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $38k, ×61 the market median. Revenue is up 35% on the market; 94 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.9k (exactly $1,851) |
| Top 25% | $13k (exactly $12,949) |
| Top 5% | $38k (exactly $38,381) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 42 |
| Released games | 127 |
| Announced | 94 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
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 10% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 17%, 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
- Tower Defense
- 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, Tower Defense; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Strategy, Roguelike, Roguelite
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 84% positive over 1,090 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 24 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 94 games are announced against 20 developers who shipped in the last year, ×4.7 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
7 Days to Die 2024 · $369M 
Dungeon Defenders 2011 · $5.5M 
Dungeon Defenders: Awakened 2020 · $1.5M 
DRAGON QUEST HEROES™ Slime Edition 2015 · $1.4M 
Element TD 2 - Tower Defense 2021 · $1.3M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 7 Days to Die | older | $44.99 | 273,589 87% | 8.2M | $369M (exactly $369,263,073) | The Fun Pimps |
| | Dungeon Defenders | older | $14.99 | 12,148 93% | 364k | $5.5M (exactly $5,462,956) | Chromatic Games |
| | Dungeon Defenders: Awakened | older | $14.99 | 3,264 67% | 98k | $1.5M (exactly $1,467,821) | Chromatic Games |
| | DRAGON QUEST HEROES™ Slime Edition | older | $39.99 | 1,150 67% | 35k | $1.4M (exactly $1,379,655) | KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. |
| | Element TD 2 - Tower Defense | older | $14.99 | 2,848 90% | 85k | $1.3M (exactly $1,280,746) | Element Studios |
 | miniBONG | older | $9.99 | 881 79% | 26k | $264k (exactly $264,036) | Game Star |
 | Grit and Valor - 1949 | $19.99 | 274 75% | 8.2k | $164k (exactly $164,318) | Milky Tea Studios | |
 | Farm for your Life | older | $9.99 | 499 81% | 15k | $150k (exactly $149,550) | Hammer Labs |
 | Band of Defenders | older | $9.99 | 313 48% | 9.4k | $94k (exactly $93,806) | Alda Games |
 | Samawa Idle | older | $4.99 | 600 65% | 18k | $90k (exactly $89,820) | Samharia Studios |
 | STARVAULT VR | $24.99 | 66 89% | 2.0k | $49k (exactly $49,480) | Theia Games | |
 | Defender Bros | · EA | $19.99 | 64 90% | 1.9k | $38k (exactly $38,381) | Lucky Dart |
 | MOCHI-O | $4.99 | 231 99% | 6.9k | $35k (exactly $34,581) | Zxima | |
 | WARSHIFT 2 | $19.99 | 54 70% | 1.6k | $32k (exactly $32,384) | Cyril Megem | |
 | The Dream Labyrinth | $14.99 | 44 81% | 1.3k | $20k (exactly $19,787) | GGG`s | |
 | Bonelords | $6.99 | 94 92% | 2.8k | $20k (exactly $19,712) | Z0 Game Studios | |
 | Blitzkrieg Express | $4.99 | 121 74% | 3.6k | $18k (exactly $18,114) | Maksym Melnyk | |
 | The Monarch | $4.99 | 98 70% | 2.9k | $15k (exactly $14,671) | Citadel Games | |
 | Temporal Titans | · EA | $9.99 | 44 95% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $13,187) | Lost Tower Games |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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