Older Video Games Like 'Fortnite' and 'GTA V' Were the Most-Played Games in 2023
60% of playtime was spent playing titles that were released at least six years ago.
Newzoo revealed in a new report that most gamers spent more time playing older video games such as Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto V in 2023.
According to Kotaku, the top 10 games played on nearly all consoles — including the PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC — are titles that were released a while back. Fortnite was ranked the most-played games on all platforms, while the likes of GTA V, Counter-Strike 2, Roblox, Minecraft, Rocket League, Apex Legends, Fall Guys, Valorant and Call of Duty followed. On Xbox and Playstation consoles, Starfield was the only single-player game in the top 10.
In addition, Newszoo shared that only 66 video games accounted for 80% of the playtime in 2023, with 60% of that playtime dedicated to playing titles that were released at least six years ago. Only 23% of playtime were spent on new games (less than two years old), and more than half of that percentage were for the annual series like Madden and NBA 2K. To close, only 8% of playtime was spent on the likes of Diablo IV or Baldur’s Gate III.
“It will be increasingly challenging to grow a game’s playerbase, particularly in our current landscape, where evergreen titles and robust content pipelines reign supreme,” Newzoo wrote.
