Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Underwater

Specimen · observed

Should I ship an Underwater Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Underwater

Of 31 developers who shipped an Underwater 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.. 43 more are announced, ×2.9 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 $3.7M, ×5986 the market median. Revenue is down 45% on the market; 43 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 1.0 times the market baseline, revenue down 45% on the market, 43 announced, ×2.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Underwater
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 31
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $1.3k → $1.0k → $23k → $180 (still earning) → $239 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Underwater: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 31
Bottom 30% $210 (exactly $210)
Median $599 (exactly $599)
Top 25% $9.1k (exactly $9,109)
Top 5% $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996)
Developers, 2 yr 31
Released games 53
Announced 43
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 down 45% on the market, supply as many developers as 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
Underwater
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; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Co-op, Online Co-Op
Price point
$5.99 typical · top 25% priced $29.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, 3D, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $29.99 or above; the middle game at $5.99.

The top 10 games average 54% positive over 212,551 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $210, median $600, 1 in 4 over $9.1k, 1 in 20 over $3.7M.

3 in 10 developers made under $210. 7 in 10 of the 17 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 43 games are announced against 15 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.9 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

Monster Hunter Wilds 2025 · $241M Abyssus 2025 · $3.8M Voyagers of Nera 2025 · EA · $1.8M Critter Cove 2024 · EA · $1.3M Murky Divers 2024 · $1.1M
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Monster Hunter Wilds $39.99 200,984 52% 6.0M $241M (exactly $241,120,505) CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Abyssus $24.99 5,014 84% 150k $3.8M (exactly $3,758,996) DoubleMoose Games
Voyagers of Nera · EA $29.99 2,022 83% 61k $1.8M (exactly $1,819,193) Treehouse Games
Critter Cove · EA older $24.99 1,735 94% 52k $1.3M (exactly $1,300,730) Gentleman Rat Studios
Murky Divers $8.99 3,981 87% 119k $1.1M (exactly $1,073,676) Embers
Death in the Water 2 older $14.99 1,734 83% 52k $780k (exactly $779,780) Lighthouse Games Studio
Aquanox Deep Descent older $29.99 463 48% 14k $417k (exactly $416,561) Digital Arrow
Deep Blue Sushi · EA $14.99 212 75% 6.4k $95k (exactly $95,336) PaperPixel Games
Gaia older $19.99 79 56% 2.4k $47k (exactly $47,376) Eternal Stardust Studios
Deep Blue: Devour and Evolve $8.99 100 83% 3.0k $27k (exactly $26,970) ZHOUZEMING
Desktop Fishes $5.99 128 82% 3.8k $23k (exactly $23,002) Daniel Santalla
What'Sub · EA $7.99 38 68% 1.1k $9.1k (exactly $9,109) Khaos Games, Nordic Softworks, Future P… (Khaos Games, Nordic Softworks, Future Punch)
Dockside Dreams – Fish & Cook Simulator $7.99 22 59% 660 $5.3k (exactly $5,273) C51 Games
Critical Fishing $2.99 50 96% 1.5k $4.5k (exactly $4,485) lazygun

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