In 2023, gamers mainly turned to old games rather than new releases
, by Thibaut
Despite the many layoffs, 2023 was another record year for the video game industry, with worldwide revenues totaling at $93.5 billion. It's a great figure, really, but one that conceals the cold, harsh truth.
An annual report by Newzoo reveals that 66 games alone account for 80% of total gaming time worldwide in 2023, and 60% of this time was spent on games released six or more years ago. The five oldest, which are Fortnite, GTA V, Roblox, League of Legends and Minecraft, account for 27% of annual game time.
Among the "new games" (i.e. two years old or less), we find mainly sequels to annual franchises. These include EA Sports FC 24 (or FIFA), Madden and Call of Duty. Also, only 8% of game time in 2023 was devoted to non-annual license titles. These include Baldur's Gate 3 and Diablo IV.
This means that the studios that come out on top are often the same ones from one year to the next. Apart from Starfield on Xbox and Hogwarts Legacy on Switch, new licenses are completely absent from the various rankings.
Medias
Source: kotaku.com