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It's a rare occasion that a professional report becomes a free download. A company called Newzoo created a gift for all of us. I recommend reading through the whole report, but here are a few highlights:
Newzoo’s PC & Console Gaming Report 2023 (and other studies)
- Thread starter Antimatter
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Decided not to start another thread for this and post here instead. A new study from Fandom is now available.
According to Fandom’s “Inside Gaming” report:
variety.com
And a note about Gen Z vs Millenials etc:
"Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is considered a Millennial, and anyone born from 1997 onward is part of a new generation."
www.pewresearch.org
According to Fandom’s “Inside Gaming” report:
- The younger generations of gamers are more interested in competitive gaming and making social connections, while older gamers gravitate more toward games with potential for intellectual stimulation.
- Among gaming genres, adventure, sandbox, survival and fighting games are most popular with Fandom gamers of all age.
- Tweens, however, are most likely to play battle royal (49%), racing (46%) and survival games (39%); while Millennials gravitate more toward MMO (41%), strategy (27%) and RPG (26%) genres, with games like Elden Ring or World of Warcraft.
- The biggest drivers for Gen Z and Millennials are character and storyline, with rich and complex backgrounds; while younger gamers gravitate more toward competitive games, with an emphasis on coordinated teamwork.
Millennials Spend More Time Playing Video Games Than Gen Z and Teens, New Study Finds
Millennials are spending more time per week playing video games than both Gen Z and teens.
variety.com
And a note about Gen Z vs Millenials etc:
"Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is considered a Millennial, and anyone born from 1997 onward is part of a new generation."
Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins
Pew Research Center now uses 1996 as the last birth year for Millennials in our work. President Michael Dimock explains why.
www.pewresearch.org
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GameIndustry.biz presented new data and graphs about games in 2023. It's a bit funny to come back to my OP here and see BG3 as the game with least awareness and purchase intent when this year started.
More stats and all the credit: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/gamesindustrybiz-presents-the-year-in-number-2023
More stats and all the credit: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/gamesindustrybiz-presents-the-year-in-number-2023
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Gamers seem to be spending less and less time in new games and more and more time in already-established franchises and live-service titles, making it harder for publishers and developers to find an audience.
kotaku.com
"Newzoo’s data shows that the top 10 games on each platform (ranked by their average number of monthly active users, or MAU) are filled with old, established titles. Fortnite took the crown on all platforms, including Switch and PC. The rest of the lists included titles that won’t surprise you, like Grand Theft Auto V, Counter-Strike 2, Roblox, Minecraft, Rocket League, Apex Legends, Fall Guys, Valorant, and Call of Duty. Across Xbox and Playstation consoles, only one dedicated single-player game cracked the top ten: Starfield.
To further prove that gamers are primarily focused on older games, Newzoo’s data shows that just 66 titles accounted for 80 percent of all playtime in 2023. And 60 percent of that playtime was spent in games that are six years old or older. In fact, in 2023, five old games—Fortnite, Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft, and GTA V—accounted for 27% of all playtime in the year.
It gets worse. Of the 23 percent of playtime spent in 2023 on new games—defined as 2 years or younger—more than half was spent in big annual sequels like the latest Madden or NBA game. Only 8 percent of video game playtime was spent on new, non-annual titles like Diablo IV or Baldur’s Gate III."
60 Percent Of Playtime In 2023 Went To 6-Year-Old Or Older Games, New Data Shows
A report shows that while the industry is growing, its biggest competition is Fortnite, GTA, Call of Duty, and Roblox
kotaku.com
"Newzoo’s data shows that the top 10 games on each platform (ranked by their average number of monthly active users, or MAU) are filled with old, established titles. Fortnite took the crown on all platforms, including Switch and PC. The rest of the lists included titles that won’t surprise you, like Grand Theft Auto V, Counter-Strike 2, Roblox, Minecraft, Rocket League, Apex Legends, Fall Guys, Valorant, and Call of Duty. Across Xbox and Playstation consoles, only one dedicated single-player game cracked the top ten: Starfield.
To further prove that gamers are primarily focused on older games, Newzoo’s data shows that just 66 titles accounted for 80 percent of all playtime in 2023. And 60 percent of that playtime was spent in games that are six years old or older. In fact, in 2023, five old games—Fortnite, Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft, and GTA V—accounted for 27% of all playtime in the year.
It gets worse. Of the 23 percent of playtime spent in 2023 on new games—defined as 2 years or younger—more than half was spent in big annual sequels like the latest Madden or NBA game. Only 8 percent of video game playtime was spent on new, non-annual titles like Diablo IV or Baldur’s Gate III."
JustKneller
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That doesn't surprise me. Being that the industry standard is to rush release of games (that are subsequently often buggy and incomplete) and then polish it up after the fact, there's no incentive for the consumer to spend more for an early release. Might as well leave things to simmer and see how they shake out. Of course, weaker opening sales lowers the post-market support so devs are kinda shooting themselves in the foot there. I think indie devs have it tough, but for other reasons. That is, most indie games I've played are pretty tight right out of the box. But, the market saturation is much higher now. It's hard to stand out in the pack. New indie devs have it even tougher because nobody really knows who they are. If we were to talk indie devs 10 or so years ago, I'd have a lot to say. At this point, though, I can't keep up. Too much in the market and too many other things going on in life. My M.O. now is to just look at $10 and under games on GOG (I don't really even bother with Steam anymore). Anything in that category with decent reviews has probably stood the test of time and will run on whatever hardware I'm currently using. I'm thinking back, and I honestly think that the last time I bought something truly new was when I bought Throne of Bhaal or Final Fantasy IX (whichever came last) as a kid. Everything else, I waited out.
I think the new generation now is far more shrewd than the industry expected. Add economic uncertainty (as least in the U.S.) to it, video games can be a little too expensive of a hobby, particularly if one is keeping up with the new stuff. I actually, think that the predominantly post-modern perspective of Millennials (especially with their education) has had a cascading effect in fostering more pragmatism in the next generation. On top of that, we're at a point where parents and kids are both potentially gamers. My kids are going to be potentials in this new market. I'm sure going to teach them to be discerning about video games and even encourage more board gaming. Hell, when they're old enough, I would likely drop video games all together for board games (and maybe ttRPGs) with my kids.
I'm surprised Starfield made the top 10. After FO4 and FO76, Bethesda lost some traction with not just the old carryovers from Interplay, but the tried and true Bethesda fans. Starfield has a 6.9 user score on metacritic. That's not a top 10 score, for sure. It pretty much has the same scores as Fallout 4, and I'm sure that's not on any top 10 list.
I took a pass on Baldur's Gate 3 for two reasons. One, I really don't like D&D 5th edition (and the direction WotC is going in general). Someone could create my dream RPG, but if they put it in 5e, I'm noping out of it. Second, a lot of what I've read suggested that the dialogue and story was a little iffy and the last act fell short. I think the most entertaining review I've read said something to the effect of, "It's like playing D&D with friends, but with a lot more sex". I've mentioned a few times before that romance in video games is just hokey in my book.
On the other hand, I'm not sure why I never got Diablo III or IV. I played the hell out of the first one and the sequel. I'm not normally an ARPG kind of person, but I liked those games. I also never picked up Wasteland, despite liking Fallout, or Torment: Tides of Numenera, despite liking Planescape: Torment. I dunno. Maybe someday. I'm thinking right now about my "queue" of games to play next (finish my BG trilogy run, do a PoE full run, do an IWD 1+2 run, maybe a BG trilogy solo/no-reload stint, maybe run the Bioshock series) and what I already have on the table will easily keep me busy for the rest of this year.
I think the new generation now is far more shrewd than the industry expected. Add economic uncertainty (as least in the U.S.) to it, video games can be a little too expensive of a hobby, particularly if one is keeping up with the new stuff. I actually, think that the predominantly post-modern perspective of Millennials (especially with their education) has had a cascading effect in fostering more pragmatism in the next generation. On top of that, we're at a point where parents and kids are both potentially gamers. My kids are going to be potentials in this new market. I'm sure going to teach them to be discerning about video games and even encourage more board gaming. Hell, when they're old enough, I would likely drop video games all together for board games (and maybe ttRPGs) with my kids.
I'm surprised Starfield made the top 10. After FO4 and FO76, Bethesda lost some traction with not just the old carryovers from Interplay, but the tried and true Bethesda fans. Starfield has a 6.9 user score on metacritic. That's not a top 10 score, for sure. It pretty much has the same scores as Fallout 4, and I'm sure that's not on any top 10 list.
I took a pass on Baldur's Gate 3 for two reasons. One, I really don't like D&D 5th edition (and the direction WotC is going in general). Someone could create my dream RPG, but if they put it in 5e, I'm noping out of it. Second, a lot of what I've read suggested that the dialogue and story was a little iffy and the last act fell short. I think the most entertaining review I've read said something to the effect of, "It's like playing D&D with friends, but with a lot more sex". I've mentioned a few times before that romance in video games is just hokey in my book.
On the other hand, I'm not sure why I never got Diablo III or IV. I played the hell out of the first one and the sequel. I'm not normally an ARPG kind of person, but I liked those games. I also never picked up Wasteland, despite liking Fallout, or Torment: Tides of Numenera, despite liking Planescape: Torment. I dunno. Maybe someday. I'm thinking right now about my "queue" of games to play next (finish my BG trilogy run, do a PoE full run, do an IWD 1+2 run, maybe a BG trilogy solo/no-reload stint, maybe run the Bioshock series) and what I already have on the table will easily keep me busy for the rest of this year.
BelgarathMTH
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@JustKneller , you and I seem pretty sympatico about a lot of things. You articulate very well why I still haven't bought BG3 and may never buy it. Concerning romance (and especially sex) in games becoming distasteful to me, that's a change in myself that has happened gradually over several decades of gaming. Young me wanted to fantasize about sex and love with game characters like Anomen. Middle-aged bordering on senior me just rolls my eyes at the thought of "every character in the game wants to have a romantic relationship with me."
It's interesting to me as I engage in introspection. I know that as a young man, the idea of gay romances being an official part of games would have been very exciting to me. If I had been 28 when BG3 came out, I can imagine that I would have been as excited by it as everyone else now seems to be. As I am now, the whole idea of it makes me yawn at best, and roll my eyes at worst. Every once in a blue moon, I get a flicker of the old feelings of interest and excitement about a game romance, but that's usually after a few evening cocktails and is gone with morning sobriety.
I also have a whole aspect of my personality (both young and old versions of myself) of finding the "edgy and/or evil is cool, good is boring" trend in games to be *extremely* distasteful. I've talked about that again and again elsewhere, so I don't need to go into it in depth again here.
It's interesting to me as I engage in introspection. I know that as a young man, the idea of gay romances being an official part of games would have been very exciting to me. If I had been 28 when BG3 came out, I can imagine that I would have been as excited by it as everyone else now seems to be. As I am now, the whole idea of it makes me yawn at best, and roll my eyes at worst. Every once in a blue moon, I get a flicker of the old feelings of interest and excitement about a game romance, but that's usually after a few evening cocktails and is gone with morning sobriety.
I also have a whole aspect of my personality (both young and old versions of myself) of finding the "edgy and/or evil is cool, good is boring" trend in games to be *extremely* distasteful. I've talked about that again and again elsewhere, so I don't need to go into it in depth again here.
JustKneller
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I think I was more tolerant of it when I was younger, but I never really cared for it. However, I think a large part of it is that I separate the story of romance from the immersion in or experience of it. I mean, for any book or game, I never felt like "I" was the character, but more that I was following this protagonist's story and I had some agency in how it went, kind of like a choose your own adventure. What tends to put me off on romances is that they are not organic to the larger story (BG2 is a great example of that) and don't really add anything to it. I feel like it's just something devs do now add to check a nerd box. I know my standards for writing in video games is (possibly unreasonably) high, but it doesn't really cost more to write a better story, and I have played some really well written games, so I know it can be done.
With BG, it's a bit of a heartbreaker. I think the devs got in their own way with the writing. They double backed on and retconned so many plot points, yet still didn't patch up all the plot holes, it's all just over-complicated and the story gets lost in its own weeds. I would have been more impressed with a single romance done well, than four that just don't make sense. In fact, one thing I would have written differently was Imoen (and I know she wasn't even meant to be a character past the prologue, but they made her one so they had a chance to do it right). I would have made her less of a "kid sister", dropped the pixie personality, and made her more of a childhood friend that could eventually grow into more. If they wanted to level 2 it, they could have had you choose Imoen's gender at character creation so a guy-guy, guy-girl, girl-guy, girl-girl romance is baked right in. I'm not gay, but one thing I've noticed about how gay people relate to each other in a relationship is that it's really not much different than straight people. You wouldn't have to "gay up" the romance storyline if players were to choose that option. But, she would make more sense as a romance option than Jaheira (with her fresh dead husband), Aerie (who needs to get to a Codependents Anonymous meeting ASAP), or Viconia (who is far too prickly for it to be worth the effort and it ends bad even if you miraculously do it right). Imoen and GW have a common history, you end up discovering she's also a Bhaalspawn, and a romance would definitely establish a good motivation to rescue her in the second game. The endless chain of "I want to rescue my friend"/"I want to get revenge on Irenicus" dialogue options are so trite, I'd rather be railroaded on a (potential) romance motivation.
But, I'm probably derailing the thread. Sorry! So, yeah, the industry. Crazy stuff, huh?
m7600
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This is one thing that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous manages to do better, despite being a bit of a slog in other regards. The character development options are wild. You can become a lich, for example. All your romance options are forfeited if you do, though. I didn't choose that path in my run, but it's still an interesting option. It's a bit more nuanced than "I want get revenge on Irenicus", I think.
BelgarathMTH
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I know what you mean. I find myself moving that way, too. I prefer MMO's more and more, precisely because they're all sandboxes with the "create your own adventure" possibilities baked in.