Do I ship it?

Games › Character Customization › Character Customization + Western

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Western Character Customization game?

Character Customization + Western

Only 16 developers shipped a Western Character Customization 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, Last Train Outta' Wormtown, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 35 more are announced, ×3.9 for every developer who shipped in the last year.

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

The middle developer here made $5.5k, ×8.8 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $50; 1 in 20 cleared $520k, ×832 the market median. Revenue is down 100% on the market; 35 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 8.8 times the market baseline, revenue down 100% on the market, 35 announced, ×3.9 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Character Customization + Western
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 16
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $365k → $239 → $600 (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Character Customization + Western: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 16
Bottom 30% $0 (exactly $0)
Median $5.5k (exactly $5,539)
Top 25% $119k (exactly $119,202)
Top 5% $523k (exactly $522,644)
Developers, 2 yr 16
Released games 36
Announced 35
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 too few recent games to read momentum, supply 30% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 19%, 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
Western
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; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Exploration, Farming Sim
Price point
$9.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
Art
5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Third Person, Cute
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.

The top 10 games average 87% positive over 2,823 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $50, median $5.5k, 1 in 4 over $110k, 1 in 20 over $520k.

3 in 10 developers made under $50. 6 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 35 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.9 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

Fallout: New Vegas 2010 · $63M Red Dead Online 2020 · $36M West of Loathing 2017 · $3.2M Last Train Outta' Wormtown 2025 · $523k Unbridled: That Horse Game 2025 · EA · $365k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Fallout: New Vegas older $9.99 211,748 95% 6.4M $63M (exactly $63,460,876) Obsidian Entertainment
Red Dead Online older $19.99 59,572 82% 1.8M $36M (exactly $35,725,328) Rockstar Games
West of Loathing older $10.99 9,716 97% 291k $3.2M (exactly $3,203,365) Asymmetric
Last Train Outta' Wormtown $11.99 1,453 96% 44k $523k (exactly $522,644) Get(Color) Games
Unbridled: That Horse Game · EA $24.99 487 85% 15k $365k (exactly $365,104) Mind Evotion Games
Cattle Country $18.99 335 86% 10k $191k (exactly $190,849) Castle Pixel, LLC.
Wild West and Wizards older $14.99 365 72% 11k $164k (exactly $164,140) Lavaboots Studios
Bounty Star $24.99 159 65% 4.8k $119k (exactly $119,202) DINOGOD
Deadwater Saloon older $19.99 186 63% 5.6k $112k (exactly $111,544) Tanglefoot Games
Siege of Avalon: Anthology older $9.99 262 86% 7.9k $79k (exactly $78,521) Digital Tome, General Arcade, Steffen N… (Digital Tome, General Arcade, Steffen Nyeland)
Graveyard Gunslingers $7.99 224 58% 6.7k $54k (exactly $53,693) PyroPhysics
Frontier Legends · EA $29.99 57 40% 1.7k $51k (exactly $51,283) Neojac Entertainment Inc.
DeadboySkeleton $4.99 52 96% 1.6k $7.8k (exactly $7,784) GreyCigarGames
ROAM: Wild Horse Simulator $4.99 37 75% 1.1k $5.5k (exactly $5,539) chipken games
Hogtie $4.99 17 94% 510 $2.5k (exactly $2,545) Alacrity Games
Corny Johnny · EA $10.00 2 100% 60 $600 (exactly $600) DozBroz Studio

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