Still playing old games? Most other people are too
Valve’s Year In Review for Steam revealed interesting statistics about its player base.
Only 15 percent of Steam players spent their time on games released in 2024. 47 percent of players devoted their time to games from the past 1-7 years (called “recent favorites”), and 37 percent played titles from eight or more years ago (“classics”).
While that seems low, it’s actually in line with historical trends. In fact, 2023 was particularly bad with players only spending 9% of time on games released in 2023. In 2022, players spent time on 17% of games released in 2022.
The ratio for ‘recent favorites’ for 2022 and 2023 were 19 percent and 52 percent, respectively, and ‘classics’ for each year were 62 percent and 38 percent.
| Year | Time spent on games released that year | Recent Favorites (1-7 years old) | Classics (8+ years old) |
| 2024 | 15% | 47% | 37% |
| 2023 | 9% | 52% | 38% |
| 2022 | 17% | 19% | 62% |
Articles: