Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Transportation

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Character Customization Transportation game?

Character Customization + Transportation

Only 19 developers shipped a Character Customization Transportation 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, City Transport Simulator 2026 - Bus & Tram, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 24 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 6 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $7.2k, ×11 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $2.7k. Revenue is up 95% on the market; 24 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 11.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 95% on the market, 24 announced, ×1.7 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Transportation
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 19
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.9M → $44k → $8.1k → $6.8k → $23k (still earning) → $13k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Transportation: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 19
Bottom 30% $2.7k (exactly $2,699)
Median $7.2k (exactly $7,193)
Top 25% $23k (exactly $23,388)
Top 5% $631k (exactly $631,042)
Developers, 2 yr 19
Released games 39
Announced 24
Effort 6 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $11.99

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 95% on the market, supply 180% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 13%, 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
Transportation
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 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, Transportation; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Management, Simulation, Exploration
Price point
$11.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Top-Down, First-Person
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $11.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 1,510 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $2.7k, median $7.2k, 1 in 4 over $23k, 1 in 20 over $630k.

3 in 10 developers made under $2.7k. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 24 games are announced against 14 developers who shipped in the last year.

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. + MinigamesFair27 devs · median $5.7k · 34 announced
  5. + DwarvesFair7 devs · median $3.2k · 13 announced
  6. + BikesFair11 devs · median $1.5k · 10 announced
  7. + IdlerFair210 devs · median $1.2k · 286 announced
  8. + IncrementalFair146 devs · median $1.2k · 190 announced
  9. + GamblingFair30 devs · median $836 · 32 announced
  10. + Precision PlatformerFair103 devs · median $748 · 116 announced
  11. + TypingFair27 devs · median $539 · 38 announced
  12. + Open World Survival CraftPoor odds34 devs · median $116k · 60 announced

All 250 pairs on the Character Customization page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Forza Motorsport 2023 · $26M Motor Town: Behind The Wheel 2021 · EA · $5.4M Expeditions: A MudRunner Game 2024 · $3.6M Ships At Sea 2024 · EA · $1.9M City Transport Simulator 2026 - Bus & Tram 2026 · $631k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Forza Motorsport older $69.99 12,148 51% 364k $26M (exactly $25,507,156) Turn 10
Motor Town: Behind The Wheel · EA older $19.99 8,971 93% 269k $5.4M (exactly $5,379,909) P3 Games
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game older $39.99 3,000 59% 90k $3.6M (exactly $3,599,100) Saber Interactive
Ships At Sea · EA older $24.99 2,479 69% 74k $1.9M (exactly $1,858,506) Misc Games
City Transport Simulator 2026 - Bus & Tram $39.99 526 73% 16k $631k (exactly $631,042) ViewApp
Cabin Crew Life Simulator · EA $12.99 505 70% 15k $197k (exactly $196,798) SOGA Std
Factory Town 2: Paradise · EA $24.99 151 89% 4.5k $113k (exactly $113,205) Erik Asmussen
Truck Driver older $19.99 159 70% 4.8k $95k (exactly $95,352) SOEDESCO
Forklift Simulator older $19.99 103 55% 3.1k $62k (exactly $61,769) Bandsoft
City Bus Simulator 2024 older $9.99 148 64% 4.4k $44k (exactly $44,356) OTTO Games
Neon Curves Racing $12.99 92 94% 2.8k $36k (exactly $35,852) Ghost Machine
TAXINAUT $19.99 39 87% 1.2k $23k (exactly $23,388) mosgrom
SKYSAVIOR Helicopter Services · EA $12.99 58 100% 1.7k $23k (exactly $22,603) Raphael do Amaral de Albuquerque
Planet Harvester: Incremental Odyssey $5.99 71 92% 2.1k $13k (exactly $12,759) Galysh Company
Metrogether Train Simulator $17.99 15 73% 450 $8.1k (exactly $8,095) camelCase Games
Trackastrophe! $8.99 29 100% 870 $7.8k (exactly $7,821) Kinoko Studio
Silk Roads II: Paths of Fortune $9.99 24 75% 720 $7.2k (exactly $7,193) Priory Games

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