When we talk about games, the most common is to focus on the news. And it is normal, the latest releases, and especially those that have been expected for a long time, such as Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077, to cite two cases of recent games, one in which expectations have been more than reasonably satisfied, and another in which the overdose of promises and the need to meet an impossible deadline resulted in one of the most memorable fiascoes of recent years.
However, although these games tend to capture the attention of the whole world, and immediately after their launch they tend to concentrate a huge number of players, when reviewing the list of the most played we find that, in general, older titles continue to attract interest from a huge part of the gaming community. Very consolidated titles that make it very difficult for new releases.
This is something, however, for which we cannot blame the old titles, because the problem is really that it’s a lot of new releases that fail to capture the community in the same way as others who add more years. Something for which, however, the developers cannot be blamed either, at least in part, since there is no predetermined formula that guarantees that a new game will be a success.
Here are the top 10 most played games of Q1 2022 in the US ranked by year of initial release. (Source: The NPD Group’s PlayerPulse)
Half of the top 10 weren’t launched this decade. Elden Ring ranked 20th. Ahead of it were games like Rocket League, World of Warcraft and Skyrim. pic.twitter.com/eWXKVMFHZj
– Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) May 24, 2022
Even worse, Some studies have found, in the renewal of their franchises, a safe formula, much more reliable than taking chances with new games. The clearest example of this is found in Nintendo, but it is also the case of other companies such as Electronic Arts. Whether it’s with annual renewal franchises, such as the almighty FIFA, or with sagas that are renewed every few years, as is the case with Pokémon, low risk can be quite profitable.
Looking at the list of the ten most played games during the first quarter of 2022, we can see that five of them are not from this decade. But it is even worse, because if we exclude the franchises, we see that there is not a single title that has its genesis in recent years. And yes, it is true that we are still in 2022, but the perspective, in this regard, is somewhat discouraging, and a reminder to developers, that they should once again bet on innovation, rather than on comfortable and safe formulas thatthat leave us wanting to try something really new.
