- 15% of Steam users’ playing time dedicated to games by 2024
- 47% playing time on games for up to eight years
- There are several reasons for this, including playing older games
SteamYear-end reviews always reveal some fascinating PC gaming trends and this year is no exception. According to 2024 data, only 15% of Steam users spent their total time on games launched in 2024.
look further into that data pc gamer According to the report, 47% of total play time on Steam was spent on games released in the last seven years, while 37% of that time was spent on games that launched eight years or more ago. Were. Now the question is why and what does it mean?
One possible explanation is that gamers may be more focused on their backlog rather than new releases. We know that playtime for current releases is higher this year than it is in 2023, as it has increased by 9% to 15%, meaning players are buying fewer and fewer new titles. There are other possibilities for this trend as well.
Other possibilities for this data
One reason may be that older games are easier to access due to their cheaper prices, especially due to the many Steam sales. also has the effect of steam deck And what is considered ‘Steam Deck playable’, as many recent AAA games may be too demanding for a portable PC.
There’s also the fact that older live service games like counter attack, Dota 2And pubg While Steam’s most played charts have been created, new titles have an incredibly difficult time breaking through and building a player base.
The second reason is that Steam has released more than 200,000 titles over the decades, compared to a relatively low 18,000 games released in 2024. steamdbSo naturally, more users will spend more time playing older games than more recent games.
Despite this, the 15% of play time dedicated to new games is quite impressive, compared to the 17% figure for 2022. This means that the numbers are improving after a huge decline in 2023. Hopefully we’ll see another increase next year, as gamers discover more new titles.