A recent report by Newzoo has shed light on the state of the gaming industry in 2023 and what the future holds. The report discussed the top ten games on each core platform based on Monthly Average Users (MAU) in 2023, unveiling some intriguing insights.
One striking observation was that Starfield emerged as the sole single-player game to make it to the top ten on Xbox and PC in terms of average MAU (Monthly Average Users), even without PlayStation data due to it not being released on that platform. This new franchise stood out among a list dominated by multiplayer and cooperative games, where the other titles had an average age of over seven years.
Admin Note: it should be noted that these figures are only stats from major publishers who make them available publicly and does not include all stats from all games within the same time period, which means that the stats are skewed toward the available data set and not real world data.
TNS: "We're shining a light on a bunch of "bad" games that may've been left wanting when it comes to their critical or audience reception."
Good list I've had similar reactions to some games even ones on the list like the order and Callisto
Also I recently grabbed forspoken for, 5 dollars at a eb games Clarence sale and I am actually enjoying it more than I thought I would
Sometimes you just need to give critically panned games a chance
Oh gosh, good shout on Forspoken! Genuinely forgot about that one, and haven't got around to playing it. It's on my to-buy-in-a-sale list!
Knack was great ! Had a blast with the first one. Haven’t tried the second one though due to backlog
The Fight: Lights Out was also a game i enjoyed very much and highly detailed with great motion control when you understand how they work, which is what pushed people away from this game..
Both The Order and Calisto were harshly treated in my view. I am not saying they are perfect, but the were both really solid games. I personally really liked them despite acknowledging their flaws and coincidentally, got the platinum trophy for both games.
Evil West is another really fun game that's worth checking out for sure.
Forspoken was great. Never really understood all the criticism. 2nd best traversal in a game after Spiderman
Yeah gameplay wise I get huge infamous vibes with its combat starting out as low level eventually becoming a unstoppable power spewing killing machine with a wide variety of powers infamous is one of my favourite franchises obviously it's not the same but I love the combat of it so far.
I feel like we’re finally starting to see a sea change in how we treat our favorite games. Sure, we all acknowledge that a game can suck and we can still enjoy it. Hopefully this results in meaningful review scores. Personally, I find a lot of bad games are better if you blast through them on the easiest difficulty. Callisto protocol on the image is a good example of this.
I really liked Calisto, harshly treated for sure and I don't necessarily think it needs to be played on easy to enjoy it. It's not perfect, but it's not the car crash the media portrayed it as either.
I have said it before, but part of the issue is that there is a mind share going on in games coverage, with all the main outfits being personal friends and talking too each other. As such, there is a risk that everyone ends up sharing in the same opinion rather than thinking from themselves. I reckon that's why some games get a universal bashing when consumers actually like the game and equally, games get great reviews across the board and the game doesnt land with consumers.
Actually, I started liking FO76 after the wastelanders DLC ... it has been my guilty pleasure
other games I can think of Order 1886, Driveclub, Resident Evil 6 (only the Leon part), Alpha Protocol (pretty unique, needs a remake), XIII Remake (after patches), Medal of Honor 2010, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Homefront The Revolution, Enemy Front, Legendary The Box, Faces of War, Conflict: Vietnam, Conflict: Global Storm & Codename: Panzers – Cold War
Driveclub was genuinely a good game with a poor launch. Alpha Protocol is superb, just a few archaic design choices for the time.
I want past games with interesting setups/mechanics but having some flaws (due to crunch or budget) to be remade so that the gaming community can appreciate and enjoy them as was envisioned and intended by the developers. In contrast to a successful game being remade again just with prettier coat of paint.
Alpha Protocol tops that and I'll include FO:NV as well as an exception (it is popular but features were cut due to limited dev time). And also Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines I, Singularity, KOTOR II and maybe Daikatana.
There might be others which I can't recall atm.
I loved Enemy Front. I pre ordered it months prior and remember calling the store to check if it came out that day. The guy never heard of it but confirmed my copy was ready to pick up. Game was simple and basic in a good way. Didn’t have any tacked on extras. A simple mission and objectives in each level. Kind of reminded me of the first Crysis in a way
I loved The Order, ridiculous graphics for it's time and a very interesting setting, it was linear but not as bad as people say. Similar thing with Callisto Protocol, i admit that i played it a long time after release so maybe issues were fixed by then, but it was a fantastic Dead Space-like horror game with some of the best graphics i've seen in my life.
Yup, I am afraid to say I waited on Calisto and picked it up for around 30 quid. Once I played it on felt really badly for the devs because the game was really decent.
Thanks to the Starfield Creation Kit, the "Earth Restored" mod has transformed the Earth into a Pine Forest and filled the sea with life.
Shadow of the Erdtree saw a 1000% player count surge at its launch. Will Starfield’s Shattered Space be able to do the same?
loading screens and zones are hardboiled into the game, they would have to remake it to change it. which if they had just made a new engine or used someone else's they wouldn't be in this mess
I played Starfield this past weekend. I enjoyed it and overall was about 30 hours in, but as soon as I got the e-mail about the GamePass price increase, I cancelled my account and deleted Starfield, Halo, Forza and others off my Series X.
If I want to play those games, I’ll just buy them outright - and truth is, I’m pretty sure I won’t. They aren’t worth it to me.
No, just no.
The ONLY single player game in the top 10... Interesting. Not Tears of the Kingdom, Not Hogwarts Legacy, Not Spiderman 2, Baldurs Gate 3... Starfield is in the Top 10. The way people talk about the game as if it's the biggest flop ever contradicts reality. Goes to show that none of your opinions on this website matters. Reality disagrees. No matter how hard you try to spin this. Starfield came in late and blew every other game that people thought were "better" games out of the water in reality. We love to see it. Congrats to Bethesda and Xbox.
LOL and how many of those actually completed the game, or even played for more than a couple hours?
Everybody would want to play it, as everyone played Skyrim. But that doesn't mean it'll have staying power. I don't believe it will have as strong legs as Skyrim had.
“One striking observation was that Starfield emerged as the sole single-player game to make it to the top ten on Xbox and PC in terms of average MAU (Monthly Average Users), even without PlayStation data due to it not being released on that platform”
There are too many caveats to parse what this is saying. The article links to a report from “newzoo” that can be sent to your e-mail inbox.