We Like Games We Know Best. Most-played Titles Mostly Older, Starfield and Switch Rare Exceptions
New games seem to be loosing out to older, everlasting titles in the battle for players' attention.
Players (and movie fans) frequently complain that publishers prioritize well-known brands or the development of individual games as a service. Nevertheless, it's challenging to dispute the data, which indicates that it's not new releases but older games that draw the most players.
Market of giants and well-known brands
According to a report by the Newzoo analytical group (via Reuters / Kotaku), the value of the video game industry increased to $93.5 billion in 2023 (only counting sales of games on consoles and PC). Despite this, analysts aren't excessively optimistic about the market's further development. Partly, this is because of the publishers' reports, such as the absence of significant launches from Sony and the unsatisfactory sales of PlayStation 5.
However, Newzoo sees another problem. Players clearly prefer to invest their time in older, well-known games.
In 2023, 80% of the total gaming time was spent in just 66 games, with 27% in the top five most popular titles. The last ones are Fortnite, Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft, and Grand Theft Auto V, with the Epic Games studio's work being the undisputed leader on PC and consoles from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.
Old games attract players for longer than the latest hits. Source: Bewzoo / Kotaku.
Only one game released in 2023 has made it into the top ten of the longest-played games on PCs and PlayStation and Xbox consoles: Starfield by Bethesda Softworks studio (in the Xbox version). This is also one of the few strictly single-player titles that made it into the compilation.
In this aspect, the compilation of Nintendo console hits appears much more favorable - exclusive titles for the Switch have reduced the average age of titles in the "top 10" to less than 4 years. On competitive consoles, the average time from the premiere of the most popular productions is over 7 years, and on PCs - almost a decade.
New games are passé
Furthermore, according to Newzoo, over half of the game time in "new" titles (i.e. released no earlier than 2 years ago) is spent on playing with yearly released series such as Electronic Arts' sports cycle. Players only spent 8% of their total time on electronic entertainment on titles representing new brands or series without a regular publishing schedule, such as Diablo 4 and Baldur's Gate 3.
It's also significant that at the top of the list of the most popular titles are two free games focusing on creativity: Fortnite and Roblox (and probably Minecraft as well). Both titles allow the community to create game content, enabling them (as described in the Newzoo report) to "stay up to date with content" that attracts players.
Analysts emphasize that new titles from outside well-known brands have a chance to succeed. Helldivers 2 and Palworld are prime examples here. However, it appears that in the future, building a faithful player base could pose a considerable challenge for developers.
It will be increasingly challenging to grow a game's playerbase, particularly in our current landscape, where evergreen titles and robust content pipelines reign supreme. In other words, good luck if you aren't making a big sequel, remake, or annual entry in some popular series.
