What do gamers play on?

In this section we show the total number of game downloads and releases across major platforms. The dataset includes over 30 million downloads and thousands of releases. This is likely a subset of the full picture as GTA V alone has sold over 200 million copies. This highlights that the data gives trends, not complete market coverage. It’s still useful for comparing platforms and identifying patterns. The potential skew of this dataset will be discussed later on.

Cumulative game downloads

This graph shows the total number of downloads over time per platform. Xbox leads in total downloads, followed by Steam and PlayStation. Downloads only begin after each platform’s store launched. Interestingly, Xbox and Steam show some downloads before their official store releases. This happens because Microsoft and Valve published games before their platforms launched and later added them with their original release dates. Looking at this graph, it would seem interest in games is stagnating. However, this is due to this dataset not being fully updated with the newest games and thus not counting their downloads.

Monthly game releases

This chart shows the number of game releases per month, broken down by platform. The size of each point represents the average number of downloads per game that month. Steam has the highest volume of releases overall. However, PlayStation and Xbox games tend to receive more downloads per title. It also shows clearly that most games release during October of each year, as this is right before the holiday season. The final months show a downward trend in releases, again due to the dataset not being fully updated.