Pangs of a backlog too full for many or simple lack of attraction for novelty? Steam statistics for 2024 are in, and they reveal sometimes surprising figures on the way games are consumed by users of the queen platform on PC. Thus, we discover through this that Steam users spent only 15% of their time playing games released in 2024. But this is not necessarily the most interesting figure. Indeed, these statistics also reveal that 47% of total playing time on the platform was allocated to games released between one and seven years earlier (i.e. games released from 2017). The remaining 38% of time was dedicated to games older than 8 years (i.e. before 2017).
Note that in 2023, only 9% of the time was allocated to games released during the year: in other words, the year 2024 was a good year for new releases. But it remains interesting to note that almost half of the time spent on Steam during the year 2024 was spent playing games from before 2017. This is probably explainable by the still so flamboyant popularity of games like Dota 2, PUBG or Counter Strike, GTA V (or any other live service game released before this date), which manage to maintain a strong player base thanks to constant updates.
And inevitably, Steam today has more than 200,000 different games (including 18,000 released in 2024). With a backlog which continues to grow for the average player, who takes advantage, for example, of Steam sales to fill his library, it is clear that he no longer necessarily has the time to test the latest fashionable novelty. So casually, 15% of the time allocated to recent games out of several hundred million regular users is ultimately a fairly impressive figure. In any case, you too can benefit from a little recap of the year provided by Steam, just to have a better idea of your personal game consumption over the year. As of the author of these lines, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance and Elden Ring are in the lead in playing time for 2024.
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