There are millions of players active on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, but only a small proportion of them play full-price titles. A graphic also shows that the age of the disk is coming to an end.
In the afternoon we reported that Microsoft based on monthly active players on PlayStation and Xbox consoles last February could take the lead. The purchase of Activision Blizzard provided a significant boost. It is a publisher that relies on live service.
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According to Analysis of Piers Harding rolls, analyst at Ampere Analysis, live service is a category that now retains a large proportion of players. While premium games remain relevant, games like “Fortnite” and Co now have the lion’s share.
Fortnite attracts the most console players
Five free-to-play games are included in the top 10 PlayStation and Xbox games with the most monthly active users (MAU) in February 2024. None came onto the market this year. Three new releases only appear in the top 20, including “Palworld” at number 12, “Helldivers 2” at number 17 and “Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth” at number 20.
The dominance becomes clear when you look at the number of players. “Fortnite” attracted 42 million players on PlayStation and Xbox consoles in February. From tenth place onwards, the games only have up to six million players.
Top 10 games with the most monthly active users in February 2024:
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- Fortnite: 42 million
- CoD HQ: 22 million
- GTA 5 & Online: 18 million
- EA Sports FC24: 17 million
- Roblox: 13 million
- Minecraft: 13 million
- Rocket League: 11 million
- Apex Legends: 9 million
- Rainbow Six Siege: 8 million
- FIFA 23: 6 million
On the Game Pass title “Palworld” There were five million players in February 2024. “Helldivers 2” was able to attract four million PS5 owners in the launch month. This is where it happened in the weeks that followed a significant increase in popularity. Also “Elden Ring” was popular with three million players on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
Only seven publishers, or even just six if Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are counted together, retain 55 percent of the monthly active players with their titles. At the forefront are companies that focus primarily on live service. And as another statistic makes clear, the games tend to compete with each other.
The other games that were primarily used by “Helldivers 2” players in February included service titles such as “Fortnite” (27 percent) and “Call of Duty” (26 percent). With “Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth” There is also a premium single-player game in the top 5, but with an overlap in the user base of only eleven percent, it is behind in terms of numbers.
What does this mean for the future of console gaming?
Monetization is changing, as a graphic from Ampere Analysis shows. After having a predominant position and generating the largest revenue in 2010, premium games on disc are increasingly losing relevance. Digital premium games were initially able to compensate for the loss of sales.
However, it is also clear that full-price games have had a declining share overall for several years. While disc games are becoming increasingly irrelevant, sales of full-price digital games have remained virtually unchanged since 2020.
Download extensions and microtransactions (an important monetization model for service games) as well as subscription services such as PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass. None of these three sources of income has a dominant position – despite the significantly higher number of players in live service games – so that premium games, download add-ons and paid memberships are equally important for publishers and will continue to be pursued.
Publishers are also looking to support their full-price single-player games with service mechanics to keep players engaged for longer. “As a result, we expect continued harmonization of game content as publishers and developers rely on similar product strategies and engagement levers,” said Harding-Rolls.
Further news about live service.
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