A newly released game industry report by market researcher Newzoo shows that while the PC and console market grew 2.6 percent in 2023, overall playtime decreased as gamers spent more and more time in a smaller list of old games like Fortnite* *and League of Legends.
The only recent blockbuster I can think of is Baldur’s Gate III. I (and many others) have certainly sunk a bunch of time into it, but, outside of that game, almost everything else is a good bit older.
Starfield, Diablo IV, Cyberpunk, AC games, COD games.
None of these spark joy, with the possible exception of Cyberpunk, but that was simply an expansion. I’m more excited about the idea of replaying Subnautica for the fourth time than anything else on that list.
The metric isn’t sparking joy, whatever that means.
The only thing really on that list that didn’t come out to mixed reception at best is COD, and even that it’s getting some tired gamers. Scores by metacritic user rating
Starfield (6.9) - generally mixed due to being basically the same as but worse than Skyrim, released ~13 years later
Diablo 4 (2.3) - generally criticised for lack of improvement in 3 as well as shitty MTX. People are generally recommending indie titles instead.
Cyberpunk (7.1) - came out shit 4 years ago, only recently got fixed, still not entirely what was promised.
AC:Mirage (7.2) - is an explicit call back to the earlier games in the franchise and mostly criticised by its new audience built up from origins, odyssey, vslhalla that expect a long grindy experience and labelled it standalone dlc sold at full price. (it also isn’t sold on steam on PC, so I actually didn’t even know this existed. Especially given how the marketing looks like every other origins/odyssey/AC marketing ad)
That got review bombed, the critic reviews are 86/100, just like the other games you’ve mentioned. No way it’s worth 2.3 or 23%.
Regardless of the user reviews, they were all blockbuster/big titles. AC and COD are whatever games for me, but they’re super popular.
That’s fair, but let’s not pretend that sales determines quality, especially considering prevalence of blind preordering.
What is “blockbuster” to you if not reviews or sales of high budget titles?