Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Trading Card Game

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Trading Card Game?

Character Customization + Trading Card Game

Only 12 developers shipped a Character Customization Trading Card 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, Youtubers Life 3, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 37 more are announced, ×6.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $1.9k, ×3.0 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $90; 1 in 20 cleared $280k, ×447 the market median. Revenue is up 30% on the market; 37 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 3.0 times the market baseline, revenue up 30% on the market, 37 announced, ×6.2 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Trading Card Game
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 12
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $11k → $748 → $2.3k → $0 → $719 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Trading Card Game: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 12
Bottom 30% $90 (exactly $90)
Median $1.9k (exactly $1,888)
Top 25% $60k (exactly $60,404)
Top 5% $281k (exactly $280,660)
Developers, 2 yr 12
Released games 46
Announced 37
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $9.99

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 30% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.

Free games: 30%, 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
Trading Card Game
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, Trading Card Game
Price point
$9.99 typical
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 9 games average 60% positive over 866 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $90, median $1.9k, 1 in 4 over $60k, 1 in 20 over $280k.

3 in 10 developers made under $90. 8 in 10 of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 37 games are announced against 6 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.2 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

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions 2020 · $9.1M SUPER DRAGON BALL HEROES WORLD MISSION 2019 · $2.5M Youtubers Life 3 2026 · $281k Erannorth Chronicles 2021 · $256k Children of Zodiarcs 2017 · $189k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions older $59.99 5,072 73% 152k $9.1M (exactly $9,128,078) TAMSOFT CORPORATION
SUPER DRAGON BALL HEROES WORLD MISSION older $59.99 1,404 82% 42k $2.5M (exactly $2,526,779) Dimps Corporation, SAFARI GAMES Co., Lt… (Dimps Corporation, SAFARI GAMES Co., Ltd.)
Youtubers Life 3 $19.99 468 50% 14k $281k (exactly $280,660) UPLAY Online
Erannorth Chronicles older $20.99 407 85% 12k $256k (exactly $256,288) Spyridon Thalassinos
Children of Zodiarcs older $17.99 351 69% 11k $189k (exactly $189,435) Cardboard Utopia
TCG Multiplayer Card Shop Simulator · EA $12.99 198 54% 5.9k $77k (exactly $77,161) Alkame Games
Sports Card Shop Simulator · EA $12.99 155 92% 4.7k $60k (exactly $60,404) OverPowered Team
MechDefender - Tower Defense older $4.99 272 76% 8.2k $41k (exactly $40,718) Atomic Fabrik, Cristian Manolachi
Control Craft 3 older $4.99 235 73% 7.1k $35k (exactly $35,180) Cristian Manolachi, Atomic Fabrik
Final Stardust: Cosmic Nexus older $14.99 72 75% 2.2k $32k (exactly $32,378) NourSaiFR
Treasure Atlas · EA $11.99 12 83% 360 $4.3k (exactly $4,316) zzeerr
Sketch Crawler $7.00 11 72% 330 $2.3k (exactly $2,310) Koan
The Ultimate Collector · EA $8.99 7 42% 210 $1.9k (exactly $1,888) StariStudios
Cat Hits the Deck · EA $5.00 11 100% 330 $1.7k (exactly $1,650) Arc Willow
Card Maker Simulator $7.99 3 100% 90 $719 (exactly $719) Níkolas Santos
Tactical Roulette $2.99 1 100% 30 $90 (exactly $90) AlbertFreeman
Paper Mages $4.99 0 0% 0 $0 (exactly $0) Gently Giant LLC

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