- According to a report, the gaming market grew by 2% last year.
- However, games five years or older took up around 60% of the total playtime.
- Starfield was among the few new IPs on the list.
While 2023 was nothing short of a top-notch year for games of every genre, including the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2, it seems gamers could not be persuaded to leave their old collection behind.
A report describes that players are still spending most of their time with older games, contributing to around 60 percent of all time spent on the industry last year.
Why it matters: Such trends highlight why publishers have previously commented that developers should play it safe and continue working with existing IPs.
Newzoo published its second annual report of the PC and consoles market of 2023, showing that there has been an incremental improvement of 2% in the PC and console market, reaching $93.5 billion in revenue.
However, most players appear to have spent time with older IPs. 60% of all time on gaming last year was taken up by the likes of Cal of Duty, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, and more.
Fortnite ranked as the most popular game across all platforms. Meanwhile, Rockstar’s GTA 5, nearing nearly 200 million sales, was also found quite high on the list across all platforms.
Fortnite, Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft, and GTA V alone accounted for around 27% of playtime. Quite surprisingly, only 8% of playtime came from new games such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Diablo 4.
Even more surprising is the fact that Starfield made it to the list, highlighting its commercial success against all odds.
Starfield was also one of the few non-multiplayer games on the list.
It is evident here that players are comfortable playing classic multiplayer games rather than trying something new. This trend underscores various challenges the industry faces moving forward.
Convincing players to leave their tried and true games behind will be difficult. However, recent IPs like Palworld and Helldivers 2 show it can be done. Both found millions of players across various platforms, showing that a fun concept is all that is often needed.
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[News Reporter]
Bawal is an MBBS student by day and a gaming journalist by night. He has been gaming since childhood, growing fond of the creativity and innovation of the industry. His career as a gaming journalist started one year ago, and his journey has allowed him to write reviews, previews, and features for various sites. Bawal has also been cited in reputed websites such as Screenrant, PCGamesN, WCCFTech, GamesRadar, and more.
