More than 40% of all US PS5 and Xbox play time last month was spent on 10 live service games
Players are trying fewer new games because of live services, analyst says
More than 40% of the total time spent playing PS5 or Xbox Series X/S games in the US last month was spent on 10 live service games.
That’s according to Mat Piscatella, the executive director and video game industry analyst at Circana (formerly NPD).
In a thread on Bluesky, Piscatella pointed out that more than 70% of active PS5 and Xbox Series X users in the US played at least one of the top 10 live service games in January.
While some of these players may have simply tried the game then moved onto something else, these 10 live service games have been popular enough to command a combined 40% of all play time spent across the entire PS5 and Xbox Series X/S libraries last month.
Piscatella notes that the statistics may be concerning for the developers and publishers of other games, because the total US video game market spending, total players and total hours all peaked in 2021 and “the pace of games being released hasn’t slowed”.
As such, the pool of potential players isn’t getting larger, and if many of them are spending a lot of time on the same 10 live service games that reduces the amount of time being spent trying out other titles, in particular new releases.
“A lot is riding on the new products coming to market this year to hopefully combat or reverse some of these trends,” Piscatella noted, presumably referring to the Switch 2 and numerous upcoming AAA games.
“Used to be that players would jump from big game to big game to some other games but they were most often to moving to something new. That they purchased,” he added. “Now, the live service games suck out a ton of available time, and it’s hard to beat free if it’s good. So. Here we are.”
Last year an annual games industry report highlighted the growing influence a group of fewer, older video games have over consumers’ annual playtime. According to the data, just 66 titles accounted for 80 percent of all playtime in 2023, and 60 percent was spent in games that are six years old or older.
Five older games— Fortnite, GTA V, League of Legends, Minecraft, and Roblox —accounted for 27% of all playtime in 2023, according to games data platform Newzoo.
Last month Circana revealed that US spending on physical video games has more than halved since 2021, with more players switching to digital due to faster internet speeds, the emergence of online marketplaces on consoles and live service games funded by microtransactions.
