Do Gamers stopped playing on PCs and Consoles?

According to research firm Newzoo, revenue growth for personal computers and console games is predicted to stay below pre-pandemic levels until 2026 as players log fewer hours of playtime. The market is anticipated to expand 2.7% between 2023 and 2026, which is less than the 7.2% growth rate that occurred between 2015 and 2021, per the report.

Players have been playing for shorter periods of time; from 2021 to 2023, the average quarterly playtime decreased by 26%. Weaker game release schedules this year are predicted to keep the trend going, with playtime dropping by about 10% in January. ”Declining player growth rates will have an effect on the industry’s ability to increase its share through net organic growth,” according to Newzoo.

The Sony Group of Japan stated in February that it does not anticipate releasing any new blockbuster games in the upcoming fiscal year, including “God of War” and “Marvel’s Spider-Man.” The PlayStation 5 console’s full-year sales target was lowered by the firm as a result of lower-than-expected holiday season sales.

Major players in the market, like Sony, Riot Games from Tencent Holdings, and Electronic Arts, have also reduced staffing levels and terminated hundreds of workers this year. Another trend that is being watched closely is the consolidation of the gaming business, as a smaller number of publishers and titles account for a larger portion of player involvement. According to the data, the number of publishers who commanded 80% of monthly active users in each of the months of 2023 was between 28 and 34. This number has been declining since 2021.

Meanwhile, five well-known games, including Grand Theft Auto V, Roblox, League of Legends, Minecraft, and Fortnite from Epic Games, accounted for 27% of all playtime in 2018. According to Newzoo, Fortnite and Roblox in particular have been prospering because of their games-as-a-platform business model, which enables users and content creators to contribute to the game and helps the platforms “stay ahead of the content treadmill.”