Steam 2020 Year in Review Showed a 50 Percent Increase in PC Playtime
Last year was definitely a good one for the gaming industry. It was one of the few exceptions from the otherwise grim times for business owners. Steam, the largest distribution platform for PC gaming, prepared a report “2020 Year in Review” to summarize the highlights of 2020 on the platform and in the gaming industry overall.
Source: Steam
How Does 2020 Compare to 2019?
A recent report prepared by Steam reveals numbers that show just how successful 2020 was for the gaming industry. Here are just some of the highlights:
- Players spent much more time playing. According to the report, the total number of hours played increased by 50.7% compared to 2019.
- Customers bought more games. Steam reveals that 21.4% more games were purchased compared to 2019.
- The number of active players increased. The report shows that there were, on average, 120 million monthly active players on the platform. To compare, the number was 95 million in 2019. Daily activity increased as well.
How Did This Happen?
The first reason why the gaming industry experienced impressive growth in 2020 is pretty obvious – the pandemic. Because of the lockdown, we had to look for new forms of entertainment, something that would be available from the comfort and safety of our homes. Gaming is not the only segment of the entertainment industry that benefited from the lockdown. Online casino operators report similar trends and acknowledge that the number and activity of players skyrocketed in 2020.
However, there is one more explanation for the video gaming boom we can see today – the gamification trend that experts have been talking about for several years. Although movies, music, and sports are still as popular as ever, people are looking for interactivity, something that none of these forms of entertainment can provide as well as gaming can. Players are drawn to gaming for the participative experience and agency it provides. So, even when the pandemic is over, and we are safe to go back to traditional entertainment, video games will not lose their momentum.
The Most Popular Game of the Year
There were a bunch of great games released in 2020, including Supergiant Games’ Hades, Last of Us Part II, Call of Duty: Warzone, and, well – you saw this one coming – Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Game developers went out of their way to entertain the crowd in confinement with amazing, diverse content. Chances are that whatever your cup of tea is when it comes to video games, there was something released in 2020 just for you.
Still, most agree that last year’s top title was CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077. As most gamers know, the launch was not seamless – initially released for both PC and consoles (Xbox and PS4), Cyberpunk provided a satisfying experience only for the former. The game had so many technical issues when played on PS4 and Xbox that the developers had to issue an apology and offer refunds for everyone who had a less-than-perfect customer experience. Nonetheless, the names of the game’s creators and a huge marketing campaign had done their job. According to Steam, the platform hit a record for download traffic when Cyberpunk was released. Let’s hope CD Projekt keep their word and fix the console version of the game soon.
What’s Next?
This year promises to be just as good for the gaming industry as 2020 was. First, the pandemic is sadly not over, so we will have to wait for a while before we can go out on a Friday night the way we used to before March 2020. Also, the gamification trend is not going anywhere, and we can expect more participatory entertainment (not limited to video games the way we know them now). Finally, there are several releases the gaming community is waiting for with bated breath, including God of War: Ragnarok, Gotham Knights, and Resident Evil 8: Village.