Salget af nye spil faldt 29% i Europa i 2024

Er der grund til at være meget bekymret for det gængse AAA-spils evne til at omsætte for et beløb der bliver betragtet som en succes sammenlignet med udviklingsomkostningerne? Se, det er det store spørgsmål, for selvom der findes individuelle succeshistorier, så findes der stadig dem der peger på problematikker i det mere gængse AAA-helbredsbillede.

Og så er der det med salget. I den seneste udgave af GI Microcast fortæller analytiker Chris Dring, at dataen afslører et fald i salget af nye spil i Europa i 2024 på hele 29%. Dette skyldes først og fremmest at 2023 var et særdeles tætpakket år, så sammenligningen bliver mere ujævn, men der er også større problematikker.

"Sales of new games in 2024 versus new games in 2023, and let's remember 2023 was a big year for new games, were down 29%, almost a third, year-on-year. Next year's the return of big blockbuster new games, even from February when you've got that sort of triple threat of Assassin's Creed Shadows and Avowed (I know Avowed isn't that big) and Monster Hunter Wilds all in the same window. And there's all the games that were announced during The Game Awards, there's an Elden Ring coming out, and there's a Grand Theft Auto, which obviously is the big thing."

Han virker relativt fortrøsningsfuld, men peger dog specifikt på Dragon Age: The Veilguard som værende et case study i hvor udfordrende AAA-markedet er lige nu:

"There's a new Nintendo console, and there's gonna be loads and loads and loads of games next year, but I'm alarmed by this data because, despite the fact that there weren't a lot of major titles, the big Star Wars game of the year only got to number 45 in a year where there wasn't a lot of games coming out. In terms of the traditional big blockbuster Christmas games, you had Call of Duty, which did well, and you had Dragon Age, which did not. That is disappointing, though, that position. That was it. Dragon Age had the market to itself and it couldn't find an audience, and that really is scary as we move into the following year."