2024: A year in PC & console video gaming

I tend to post mainly about the TV, Film and Sports sectors, but Video Games are also a bit of an enthusiasm for me. While I won't be revealing on LinkedIn exactly how many hours I've sunk into playing Video Games this year, we have run some wider analysis on our panel of millions of gamers, to look at how they've been playing across PC (Steam) and console (Xbox and PlayStation) this year. My colleague Katie Holt has covered this via her analysis here.

PC and console gamers spend an average of ~12 hours per month playing

Across these devices – in the 40+ markets in which we’re monitoring activity – gamers spent an average of nearly 10bn hours playing every month, with activity peaking in January – when players spent close to 11bn hours in their favourite games. Across these three platforms alone, we saw monthly active users (MAUs) reach 800m-900m people through 2024. And that’s before we even think about mobile gaming.

To put that further into context, the average console or PC gamer is spending about 12 hours playing games on these platforms each month. And that’s fairly consistent across markets. While there is inevitably a bit of variation (APAC gamers spend a little bit more time each month playing, and LatAm gamers a little less), UK console and PC gamers look pretty similar to US console and PC gamers in terms of how much time they commit to playing.

Games and TV viewing fulfil distinct need-states, and have reached an equilibrium

Gaming activity is still lower than TV viewing – PC and console gamers spend less time gaming than they do watching TV/streaming services, with which they may spend upwards of three to four hours per day. But gaming serves a different need state. Our recent research on the Attention Economy found that despite growth in gaming activity in recent years, gaming wasn’t particularly cannibalistic of video viewing – or at the very least has reached an equilibrium with TV/video in recent years. And that makes sense if we think about the ‘lean forward’ nature of most video games. They require active engagement, thought, and quite frequently fast reactions. That’s not always suitable as an entertainment option – sometimes sitting back and watching TV or film is the less exhausting choice after a tough day at work.

The interplay between media offer opportunities for success

These different need states mean that Games and other media can complement each other nicely. The release of Amazon’s hit Fallout TV series in April catapulted the last single-player iteration of the Fallout video game series, Fallout 4, to 12th in Ampere’s global charts in that month, where it remained until May. Similarly, global search activity for League of Legends reached its 2nd highest level in five years alongside the November release of the second series of the critically-acclaimed Arcane, on Netflix.

In a comparable way, building on recently FTSE-100 listed Games Workshop’s IP, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 reached the top 16 global titles (by MAUs) in September – leaning heavily on the passionate fanbase for the tabletop games. Amazon is also due to start work on a Warhammer TV series, building further on the strong IP foundation which has supported the ongoing rise of Games Workshop, and the success of Space Marine 2.

Utilising the interplay between different media – and capitalising on existing fan-bases – is a tried-and-tested mechanism in both the gaming and TV & film worlds, and in a tougher market often represents an easier sell to consumers than persuading them to buy into entirely fresh IP.

Games represent a key medium for social interaction

On the subject of ‘leaning forward’, Console and PC games are a key medium for social interaction. Our analysis indicates that in 2024, all of the top 10 titles across the platforms we monitor were multiplayer-centric. Fortnite, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, EA Sports FC 24, Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege… ?And fans of multiplayer titles tend to also favour other multiplayer titles. Apex Legends fans also commonly play Fortnite, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Roblox, Rocket League. And Fortnite players pick up Call of Duty, Roblox, Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft.

And this of course translates into social video viewing activity too - some of the top-performing channels on social video platforms like YouTube continue to build on a gaming foundation. Observers outside the sector might ask 'why watch video games and not play them?', but of course the answer is similar to that in the sports world - it fulfils a different objective to playing, and is a social activity in its own right.

Cost of living impacts the gaming world as well

The social dimension of top games also poses a challenge for publishers looking to launch new titles. Network effects and cost of living both impacted the ability of new entrants to make headway in 2024. Just 17% of the year’s top 200 titles (as measured by their average MAUs) were released in 2024. The social dimension of some of the leading titles means that in a world in which players are more cash-strapped, breaking in with a new game designed to compete with these fan favourites – and getting players to persuade their friendship group to also buy into the new title – was difficult.

Of course this isn’t to say that there weren’t titles which were able to land with a bang – coop shooter Helldivers 2 debuted as the 11th most popular title globally in February this year, rising to the 6th most popular title by March. January’s Palworld hit number 6 in our charts, Black Myth: Wukong debuted at number 9 in August, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 landed at number 16 in September, and EA Sports FC 25 landed at number 6 in October. But as Sony found with Concord, the recipe for success was far from straightforward.

2025 will build on the patterns we've observed this year

As we look forward to 2025, many of 2024's dynamics will continue to govern the shape of the gaming space. As with the TV world, we're expecting a small bounce-back in the performance of the PC and Console market, supported by gradually improving economic conditions - which may alleviate some of the pressure felt by the sector this year. But the market is on a slow return to buoyancy, and thus the companies across the space which can build on the lessons of 2024 - cross-media IP utilisation, cautious approach to investment in a more cost-sensitive market, and ability to focus attention on white-spaces in the market - will be best positioned to succeed in the year ahead.