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Just 66 titles saw 80 percent of all playtime in 2023, most older games like Fortnite or GTA 5Over half of playtime was spent in games at least six years old, says new report
Over half of playtime was spent in games at least six years old, says new report
Image credit:Epic Games
Image credit:Epic Games
Even more troublesome for novelty enjoyers is the revelation that a huge chunk of 2023’s playtime was spent in games that were at least six years old or older. You’ve likely already predicted the top candidates, looming over the landscape, warring for territory like the Godfather’s five families. Fortnite,League of Legends,GTA 5,Minecraft, andRobloxtook a sizeable 27% of all playtime between them. All told, as Kotaku point out, “Only 8 percent of video game playtime was spent on new, non-annual titles likeDiablo 4orBaldur’s Gate 3.”
It all sounds damning on the surface, although I think it’s probably worth pointing out that many of these players don’t necessarily represent lost market share for new, single player titles and the like, since many of the games mentioned represent entire hobbies in themselves. Still, it’s a shock and slightly disappointing to see so many hands grabbing for the same plate of chips at the buffet while more interesting offerings get left to grow cold on the periphery, struggling to find an audience, and causing publishers to become ever more risk-averse in the process.
“The idea that the games industry is a hits-driven business where the majority of the success goes to the minority of the developers, the minority of the studios - everybody knows that and everybody gets that, as harsh as that might be. I think there was this historical pattern that games end, and people stop playing certain games, and so then there’s a hunger and a desire for new games and interesting games and improved games. I think the calculus that’s different now for players is - the total industry revenue is whatever it is for the year, and that used to be all new games, every year. And then the next year it’s all new games again. There’s this incredibly thick line now of that revenue, which is games that are five, even 10 years old, like GTA Online, and those games have done so good, and are so exceptional because of the just enormous amount of investment that’s been put into them, that they are evergreen.”
‘Supreme’ is certainly one word for it, anyway.
