Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Underground

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Underground Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Underground

Of 27 developers who shipped an Underground Character Customization game 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.. 65 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $4.3k, ×6.9 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $900; 1 in 20 cleared $130k, ×222 the market median. Revenue is down 95% on the market; 65 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 6.9 times the market baseline, revenue down 95% on the market, 65 announced, ×3.4 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Underground
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 27
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $215k → $90k → $21k → $73k → $2.8k → $2.9k (still earning) → $4.8k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Underground: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 27
Bottom 30% $899 (exactly $899)
Median $4.3k (exactly $4,315)
Top 25% $36k (exactly $35,664)
Top 5% $139k (exactly $139,241)
Developers, 2 yr 27
Released games 78
Announced 65
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 down 95% on the market, supply 110% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 18%, 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
Underground
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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Crafting, RPG
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, First-Person, 3D
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 91% positive over 4,510 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $900, median $4.3k, 1 in 4 over $35k, 1 in 20 over $130k.

3 in 10 developers made under $900. 5 in 10 of the 12 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 65 games are announced against 19 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 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

Never Return 2021 · EA · $610k Last Train Outta' Wormtown 2025 · $523k Time Walker: Dark World 2023 · $215k OBSCURA 2024 · EA · $204k Path of the Abyss 2025 · $139k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Never Return · EA older $13.99 1,453 73% 44k $610k (exactly $609,824) YeMuNetWork
Last Train Outta' Wormtown $11.99 1,453 96% 44k $523k (exactly $522,644) Get(Color) Games
Time Walker: Dark World older $4.99 1,434 85% 43k $215k (exactly $214,670) Heartfun
OBSCURA · EA older $14.99 453 99% 14k $204k (exactly $203,714) Rotten Raccoons
Path of the Abyss $6.99 664 92% 20k $139k (exactly $139,241) Suzuki Suzuzou
Escort Simulator older $19.99 215 61% 6.5k $129k (exactly $128,935) Somavision Games
Super Mining Mechs $4.99 841 86% 25k $126k (exactly $125,898) Delayed Victory
Cralon $19.99 192 71% 5.8k $115k (exactly $115,142) Pithead Studio
Bloody Knuckles Street Boxing · EA older $14.99 210 52% 6.3k $94k (exactly $94,437) Luvseatshawty
Ad Fundum older $6.99 429 93% 13k $90k (exactly $89,961) Oldbut Gold
Mining Merchant $6.99 410 88% 12k $86k (exactly $85,977) Delayed Victory
DigDigDrill $3.99 607 95% 18k $73k (exactly $72,658) Toorai
Aground Zero $19.99 121 81% 3.6k $73k (exactly $72,564) Fancy Fish Games
Runehaven $9.99 119 91% 3.6k $36k (exactly $35,664) Cikoria Studio
Soulbind: Tales Of The Underworld $7.99 88 73% 2.6k $21k (exactly $21,094) Rubedo Games
Metrogether Train Simulator $17.99 15 73% 450 $8.1k (exactly $8,095) camelCase Games

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