PC Top 2023 Games a Decade Old on Average; PC Drove Growth in 2023, Console Will 2024 Onward

In its recent 2023 PC and Console Gaming Report, NewZoo, a market research and data tracking firm, offers a glimpse into an industry undergoing a transition. Despite experiencing a surge in growth during the pandemic, the gaming industry saw a slight decline in 2022. However, in 2023, the industry experienced a return to moderate growth, with the PC and console market reaching a total of $93.5 billion, a 2.3 percent increase year-on-year. This growth was primarily driven by the PC market, which saw a 3.9

Over the course of the next three years (2024 to 2026), NewZoo forecasts a continued modest growth rate of approximately 2.7 percent per year, resulting in a total increase of 14 billion over the three-year period. NewZoo also predicts that the majority of this growth will be driven by the console market, with the expected release of Nintendo’s highly-anticipated Switch follow up and the increasing install bases of current-gen machines.

Despite its many successes, the gaming industry is faced with a unique challenge: competing with its own history. With the emergence of live service giants such as Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft, new games must now contend with established favorites. This is most apparent in the PC market, where the average age of the top 10 games in terms of monthly active users in 2023 was a staggering 9.6 years. Even on PlayStation and Xbox, the top 10 games had an average age of 7.4 and 7.2 years respectively. The only platform that seems to embrace new games is the Switch, with two of its top 5 games in 2023 being Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros.

In 2023, games that were at least 6 years old made up more than 60 percent of total playtime. Despite the presence of new games being played, a significant amount of time was still dedicated to annualized franchises like Call of Duty and EA’s sports games. Only 8 percent of playtime was devoted to completely new, non-annualized games, with Diablo IV, Hogwarts Legacy, and Baldur’s Gate III being the most popular choices.

Despite the anticipation for the next groundbreaking development, the industry is currently experiencing a decline in playtime (26 percent decrease) since 2021. This can be attributed to the post-pandemic return to routine, but also to a growing weariness towards repetitive activities without any new replacements. The question remains: what will be the next major innovation? Only time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the current trends in the gaming industry and where do you anticipate it heading in the next few years?