Spider-Man 2, Starfield, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom all launched in 2023 but these blockbusters didn’t stop Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch players from spending most of their time with older games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Fortnite.
As reported by Kotaku, video game market analyst Newzoo released a report which revealed 66 titles accounted for 80% of overall playtime in 2023. Of that number, a huge 60% of playtime was spent with games released six years ago or more.
Newzoo ranked games on each platform based on their monthly active users across 37 markets, with the exception of Switch which only used data from the U.S. and UK. Not one new release breached the PC list, while only EA Sports FC 24 made it onto PlayStation’s. Starfield was the only 2023 game on Xbox’s list, while Switch saw three new additions including Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Hogwarts Legacy.
Fortnite was the most played game on all platforms, while Roblox, Minecraft, GTA 5, Call of Duty (with Modern Warfare 2, 3, and Warzone 2.0 counted as one game), Rocket Leagues all proving mainstays too. All together, Fortnite, Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft, and GTA 5 accounted for 27% of all playtime in 2023, while annual releases like FC (formerly FIFA), NBA 2K, and Madden NFL accounted for around 15% of all playtime.
“Studios hoping to release a new title will find it challenging to include these playtime hours in their addressable market, as they nearly always go to these games that engage players on a reliable annual basis,” Newzoo said. “In other words, it’s a tall order to steal playtime hours from a Call of Duty or big sports title.”
This left just 8% of total playtime for completely new releases, which includes games released in 2022 and 2023. “While that may sound dire, the reality is that it’s easily possible to be successful within these constraints,” Newzoo added.
Diablo 4 claimed the top spot of these wholly new games with 1.4% of 2023’s total playtime. This was followed by Hogwarts Legacy at 0.8%, Baldur’s Gate 3 at 0.6%, and Elden Ring and Starfield both at 0.3%. “It’s worth noting that four of these titles are premium games, while only one of them is a live service,” Newzoo said.
Despite these comparatively low playtime numbers, all of these games were still deemed incredibly successful. Diablo 4 saw 10 million players in its launch month of June 2023 which led to record breaking financial quarters for publisher Activision Blizzard, the same company which releases Call of Duty.
Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter universe game, was the best selling game of 2023, and the first non-Call of Duty or Rockstar game (like GTA 5) to do so since 2008. As for Baldur’s Gate 3, not only did it capture the imagination of players in unprecedented ways and win myriad game of the year awards, it also made $90 million for publisher Hasbro.
Elden Ring launched in February 2022, so its presence in the top five most played games of 2023 is testament enough to its popularity, but publisher Bandai Namco confirmed it had crossed a whopping 23 million units sold as of March 2024. And finally, Starfield reached 10 million players in just three weeks and overcame the likes of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 4 as publisher Bethesda’s biggest launch of all time.
One incoming game that may upset this trend of new releases only claiming a small percentage of overall playtime is GTA 5’s sequel, Grand Theft Auto 6. Launching in 2025, it’s already being touted as the most important release in video game history.
The GTA 6 trailer — which reintroduces fans to Rockstar’s take on Miami, Vice City — featured a ton of intricate details (here are 99 things IGN spotted) and plenty of references to wild and wacky real life events too.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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