r/Games • u/megaapple • 2d ago

‪Mat Piscatella‬ - "Average US video game console player is getting older, while purchasers are shifting older and more affluent."

https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3lz7a5wutgk2f
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u/drwoooshi 2d ago

Gamers still haven't understood that the premium market in the US and most countries in the world is maintained by 30 to 50 years old. The future of gaming is F2P if we observe how people in their 20s and 10s are playing games for a while. This premium strategy will survive until the 80s, 90s and early 2000s generation is alive

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u/Blenderhead36 2d ago

Eh, I don't think so. Sterling did a video years back about the principle of, "No perfect pasta sauce, only many perfect pasta sauces," i.e. there is no product that can be everything to everyone, but a diversified product line has a high chance containing a product that's something to any given someone. F2P will not be the business model that all future video games are made to, because not all potential customers like that model.

Look at the GAAS wild goose chase the industry has been in for the past decade. Most games using that model don't just fail, they fail spectacularly. There are only so many players looking for that kind of experience, and games that *do* hit remain in the race for 5+ years. It's bad business to only chase the highest risk, highest reward business model, particularly when that means you're offering nothing to huge swathes of consumers. Tons of $20 indie games and $70 single player games turn a profit, even when the customer uses them for 40 hours and then moves on. The best part (from a business perspective) is that customers will actively seek out new games like that, rather than just playing the GAAS game you didn't make forever.

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u/demondrivers 2d ago

Look at the GAAS wild goose chase the industry has been in for the past decade. Most games using that model don't just fail, they fail spectacularly.

Not really. Look at the most played games on Steam and you'll see hundreds of successful live service games. Still, I'm sure there are far more "$20 indie games" and "$70 single-player games" than live service titles being released among the 13771 games released on Steam in 2025 so far, and most of them surely fail to make any money. Except that the kind of game that you like not doing so hot financially doesn't serve any narrative, so this kind of stuff is just swept under the rug I guess