There are extra of us spending extra time taking part in PC video games than ever earlier than, however they’re more and more spending their time taking part in older stuff. A brand new report by market analysis agency Newzoo estimates that solely 8 p.c of PC gaming hours in 2024 have been spent on video games that got here out in that very same 12 months. It seems the tons of of hours every of us spent obsessed with Balatro was only a drop within the bucket in comparison with all the pieces else.
“Total playtime hours are rising, however concentrated in AAA and at occasions cannibalistic,” learn Newzoo’s newest report, offered at GDC 2025 by the company’s director of consulting, Ben Porter, VGC stories. “The battle for viewers hours is fierce and close to zero sum.”
The presentation, titled “The State of PC and Console Video games in 2025,” checked out gaming habits on each sorts of platforms and located that PC avid gamers are more likely to be taking part in video games which can be no less than six years outdated like Roblox, League of Legends, and Fortnite. Video games like that accounted for 67 p.c of PC play time, whereas video games that have been 2-5 years outdated accounted for 25 p.c. Issues that got here out in 2024, like Helldivers 2, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Black Fantasy: Wukong, solely accounted for 8 p.c whole.
The quantity echoes Newzoo’s related report from 2024, although the development seems to be getting worse. On the one hand, it’s not stunning that extra time is spent taking part in older video games. Think about taking the 100 greatest video games of the previous 25 years. Most of these didn’t come out within the final six. On the similar time, every new 12 months sees far more recreation releases than the final. Over 18,000 video games launched on Valve’s storefront in 2024, up 5,000 from 2023.
The loss of life grip of outdated video games is much less dramatic on console, however nonetheless vital. About 44 p.c of time on PlayStation was spent on video games that got here out six or extra years in the past. The quantity was 49 p.c on Xbox. However console gamers spent twice as a lot time on video games that got here out in 2024 as their counterparts on PC, with 15 p.c of playtime going to new releases like Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2.
Anecdotally, the affect of this development is obvious. New video games, irrespective of how nice they’re, have a a lot smaller shot at breaking by way of the noise and changing into one of many choose few that garners plenty of consideration and gamers. The result’s extra ruthless competitors for present gamers’ consideration and larger studios and publishers being much less prepared to take dangers on new genres, concepts, and franchises.
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