PlayStation And Xbox Players In The US Spent Over 40% Of Their Playtime Last Month In Just 10 Live Service Games

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Live service games, despite being a subject of ongoing debate among gamers, continue to hold significant sway over the gaming industry.

Even though some gamers have issues with them, live service games remain popular in the world of video games.

According to Mat Piscatella, an analyst in the game industry who works as Executive Director of games at market research firm Circana (previously known as NPD), around 40% or more of all gaming time spent on PlayStation and Xbox consoles in the U.S. during January was dedicated to only ten live service games.

As a dedicated gamer, I found out that an astounding 70% or more of us active gamers across popular platforms gave at least one of the top 10 games a spin in January, whether we stuck with them or not.

What Are The Games?

From Piscatella’s post, it wasn’t clear which specific top 10 games he was referring to. However, based on a different post that listed the top 15 most-played games across Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam between February 9th and 15th, some educated guesses can be made about those popular titles.

The given list seems to imply that it encompasses approximately ten live-service video games, with popular titles such as Call of Duty series, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, Marvel’s Avengers: Battle for Earth (Marvel Rivals), Roblox, Minecraft, and sports games. Additional games mentioned on the list are Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and Rocket League.

As per Piscatella’s observations, the video game market, player engagement, and playtime reached their zenith in the year 2021. Since then, the market has remained relatively steady. However, he emphasizes that this indicates a change in gaming habits among players over the past few years.

Previously, I’d find myself hopping from one major title to another, occasionally dabbling in lesser-known games. But it was usually a move towards the next big thing that I would invest in.

Currently, live-service games consume a significant amount of our time, making it challenging to resist their allure, especially when they’re free and offer quality entertainment. Consequently, here we find ourselves engaged in them.

Over the past few years, there’s been quite a bit of debate between gamers and game developers about live service games, yet this information seems to indicate that those who strongly oppose these types of games may be in the minority.

Ubisoft is considering launching additional live-service games, whereas Electronic Arts (EA) has pointed to poor sales of Dragon Age: Veilguard as a result of it not having a live-service component; this point has also been echoed by the game’s developers themselves.

Conversely, Sony has decided to cancel several live service games that were in development, after the disastrous collapse of Concord last year.

If you’ve been pondering why game publishers continue to roll out live service games despite some prominent flops, this information might provide a clue.

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2025-02-26 22:09