Top 15 Video Game Genres

[ZedClampet]

Top 15 video game genres by estimated players. Keep in mind that some of these categories have vast numbers of players playing a handful of games or less, while others have dozens of games that do very well, so this is not a blueprint for success if you are making a video game. In fact, I think the top category, shooters, is one of the most volatile and risky game genres, though I have no evidence for that.

This comes from a developer, JuegoStudios, and I have no idea where they got the numbers.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've looked this up before. I think these numbers are specifically for the PC market.

I must say I'm surprised MMORPGs are so low. Though maybe they lost a lot of players to other types of MMO games.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've looked this up before. I think these numbers are specifically for the PC market.

I must say I'm surprised MMORPGs are so low. Though maybe they lost a lot of players to other types of MMO games.

I was surprised that simulation games beat survival games, but then I realized there are vastly more simulation games than survival ones. Also, simulation games usually are under 12 hours then you are ready for the next one. Survival games can go 100+ hours.

Puzzle games more than survival? I'm beginning to get a bit skeptical. Racing games more than survival? No, I don't see how that can be right. I'm very familiar with all the major racing games on Steam, and if you put them all together, they don't amount to much. I just pulled a bunch of them up, and the game with the most concurrents right now (of the games I checked, including the latest NFS and Assetto Corso Evo) was Forza Horizon 5, which came out in 2001, and it only had 6000 people playing.

 

[Zloth]

Open-World games are another genre? That's more like a feature.

Well, 4X games aren't even on the list, which makes sense. I don't think the rest of the genre put together would add up to half of what Civilization gets, and that's nowhere near a billion sales.

 

[Pifanjr]

I am curious how they determined the genres. If they used Steam tags this graph is pretty much worthless...

 

[ZedClampet]

I am curious how they determined the genres. If they used Steam tags this graph is pretty much worthless...

Among other things, it means the same game can be in multiple categories. For instance, games being counted as "open world" almost certainly are also in one or more other categories.

But I think you are on to something. Steam tags have to be what they are using. If there is a puzzle in a game, people add the "puzzle" tag. On this list, it then becomes a puzzle game (and whatever else it really is)

 

[Slasken]

Those video game genres seem to be interlaced.