60% Of All Playtime In 2023 Was Spent On Live-Service Games More Than Six Years Old

New market data shows that 60% of playtime across consoles and PC was spent on live-service games that are over six years old, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, Counter-Strike and others. The report, from market researcher Newzoo (via Kotaku), claims that the PC and console markets generated $93.5 billion in revenue during 2023. Most of this revenue and most of the total playtime was spent on heavyweight, established titles.

For example, Fortnite topped the charts on every platform. Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto 5, Minecraft, Counter-Strike 2, Rocket League, and Apex Legends also take prominent spots. Each platform does have its own idiosyncrasies. Roblox and The Sims 4 both take prominent spots on the PC chart. Starfield cracked number eight on Xbox, while Tears of the Kingdom was the second most played game on Switch. However, the lists are mostly uniform across platforms. A grand total of 66 games accounted for over 80% of playtime in 2023. 60% of that was spent with games that are six years or older.

As for other games, 23% of the total playtime was spent on new releases. However, most of that time was spent on annual franchises like Madden or NBA2K. Only 8% was spent on new, non-annual games like Baldur's Gate III or Tears of the Kingdom, and even those are part of well-established franchises. Through platforms like Itch, it is easier than ever to make your own games and share them with the world. However, competing with games like Fortnite or Roblox, which lean on user-generated games, combined with the lack of funding support for marginalized developers can create a hostile environment to new ideas.