{"id":122521,"date":"2020-12-22T19:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T19:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/375546"},"modified":"2020-12-22T19:26:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T19:26:00","slug":"whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/12\/22\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Who&#8217;s playing what on PlayStation 5?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> &lt;!&#8211;  &#8211;&gt;  <title>Gamasutra: Simon Carless&#8217;s Blog &#8211; Who&#8217;s playing what on PlayStation 5?<\/title>   <!--[if lt IE 9]&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/html5shim.googlecode.com\/svn\/trunk\/html5.js\">http:\/\/html5shim.googlecode.com\/svn\/trunk\/html5.js<\/a> &lt;![endif]--> <!-- CSS -->                    <!-- link href=\"https:\/\/twimgs.com\/gamasutra\/css\/minified.css\" rel=\"stylesheet\" type=\"text\/css\" \/ -->    <!-- Mobile Specific Metas -->  <!-- Start Visual Website Optimizer Asynchronous Code --> <!-- End Visual Website Optimizer Asynchronous Code --> <!-- Start HeatMap.me Code --> <!-- End HeatMap.me Code --> <!-- Start: GPT Sync --> <!-- End: GPT -->    <!-- Eloqua tracking code --> <!-- End Eloqua tracking code -->  <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->  <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <!--Cookie banner code starts here --> <!--Cookie banner code ends here --> <!-- Informa Branding code goes here--> <\/p>\n<div id=\"iribbon-container\" class=\"content-body-wrapper\"> <button id=\"iribbon-title\" title=\"show\/hide\" class=\"inactive\">Informa<\/button> <\/p>\n<div id=\"iribbon-detail\" class=\"ribbon-hide\">\n<div id=\"iribbon-left\">\n<p>Gamasutra is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"iribbon-right\">\n<p>This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. 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Number 8860726.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- Informa Branding code goes here--> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 19 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[2,2]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 19 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 20 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[7,7]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 20 --> <\/p>\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div id=\"container-main\" class=\"content-body-wrapper\"> <!-- Google Prestitial Ads start here--> <!-- Google Prestitial Ads end here--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"container bottom3\">\n<div class=\"span-7\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5.png\" alt=\"Gamasutra: The Art &amp; Business of Making Games\" width=\"243\" height=\"77\" border=\"0\"><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"spacer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5.gif\" width=\"27\"> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"span-20\"> <!--end show phone--> <!--end showphone--> <!--end nav--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"span-20 last content_bg\">\n<div class=\"hide-phone\">\n<div class=\"span-4\">\n<div class=\"content_box_left\">\n<div class=\"leftcol\"> <!--member login--> <!--end memberlogin--> <!--begin social icons--> <!--begin social icons--> <!--end social icons--> <!--end social icons--> <!--begin page numbers--> <!--end page numbers--> <!--begin leftnav--> <!--end leftnav--> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 3 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,59]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 3 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 4 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,59]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 4 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 5 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,409]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 5 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 9 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,177]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 9 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 11 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,177]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 11 --> <!-- begin event tickers --> <!-- end event tickers --> <!--begin jobs--> <!--end jobs--> <!--begin blogs--> <!--end blogs--> <!--begin press releases--> <!--end press releases--> <!--begin calendar--> &lt;!&#8211; <\/p>\n<div class=\"header\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"arrow\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-1.png\" width=\"22px\" height=\"20px\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/calendar\/calendar.php\">Calendar<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"leftnav bottom2\"> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/calendar\/calendar.php\"><strong>View All<\/strong><\/a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/calendar\/calendar_submit.php\"><strong>Submit Event<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul> <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p> &#8211;&gt; <!--end calendar--> <!--begin about--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"bottom2\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/advertise\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5.jpg\" alt=\"Sponsor\" border=\"0\" class=\"whiteTop\" width=\"177px\" height=\"60px\"> <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!--end about--> <!--begin network--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"leftnav_network bottom2\"> If you enjoy reading this site, you might also want to check out these UBM Tech sites: <\/p>\n<hr>\n<hr>\n<p> <br class=\"clear\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <!--end network--> <!--begin store--> <!--end store--> <\/div>\n<p><!--end leftcol--> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"span-16 last\">\n<div class=\"content_box_middle\"> <!-- InstanceBeginEditable name=\"BodyContent\" --> <\/p>\n<div class=\"page_item\">\n<div><a name=\"twitter_share\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com?status=RT @gamasutra: Who's playing what on PlayStation 5? http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/blogs\/SimonCarless\/20201222\/375543\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-1.gif\" alt=\"Share on Twitter\" border=\"0\" height=\"20\"><\/a>  <span id=\"edit_post_link\"><\/span>&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/blogs\/rss\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-2.gif\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" border=\"0\" alt=\"RSS\"><\/a> <\/div>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"item_body mobile_image_transform\"> <strong><i><small> The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra\u0092s community.<br \/>The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. <\/small><\/i><\/strong> <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em>[The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/\">GameDiscoverCo game discovery newsletter<\/a>&nbsp;is written by \u2018how people find your game\u2019 expert &amp;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamediscover.co\/\">GameDiscoverCo<\/a>&nbsp;founder&nbsp;Simon Carless, and is a regular look at how people discover and buy video games in the 2020s.]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Welcome to the final GameDiscoverCo newsletter before the holidays! It\u2019s been a bit of a crazy year, huh? Looks like there\u2019s a lot to get through in this edition. (Though we\u2019ll still have at least one newsletter before the end of 2020.)<\/p>\n<p>We should probably get to it, huh? Let\u2019s go:<\/p>\n<h2>A PlayStation 5 playtime primer<\/h2>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ce1c96d-466b-411d-800a-cc8f567a6b38_2060x1006.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/9ce1c96d-466b-411d-800a-cc8f567a6b38_2060x1006.png&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:711,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:202610,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-2.png\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>So, it\u2019s not the biggest sample size in the world, but I\u2019ve been keeping an eye on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ps-timetracker.com\/\">the PS Time Tracker website<\/a>&nbsp;recently. It allows players to add a bot as a friend on PSN, and then has the bot keep a track of the games you\u2019re playing. (Don\u2019t shut this down, Sony &#8211; it\u2019s interesting!)<\/p>\n<p>In the above image, there\u2019s the Top 10 PlayStation 5 games played over the last 30 days, with number of sessions and average playtimes, from a sample size of 3,018 active players. (Presumably mostly English language &amp; more \u2018core\u2019 gamers!) The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ps-timetracker.com\/statistic\/PS5\">top 100 is listed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Not surprising to see Cyberpunk 2077 atop the list (despite not having been out for 30 days!) But I did think it notable that Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla is doing so well playtime-wise (averaging 30 hours per player?) And the Demon\u2019s Souls remake has been the standout PS5 exclusive from a playtime perspective right now.<\/p>\n<p>The other obvious lesson? People are still playing plenty of previously released titles (like FIFA 21, Destiny 2, and Fortnite), with varying degrees of graphical upgrade, just because they\u2019re great titles that are frequently updated. While \u2018only on PS5\u2019 works in a few cases, it\u2019s really the cross-gen sell that cements the deal for prospective buyers.<\/p>\n<p>Briefly, the site also does&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ps-timetracker.com\/statistic\/PS4\">have PlayStation 4 Top 100 playtime stats<\/a>. And wow, Grand Theft Auto V is still doing so well (partly because of its GTA Online GaaS elements, I\u2019m sure!) And there\u2019s lots of GaaS-y stuff in the Top 50, as you\u2019d expect, since this is all about playtime. Anyhow, poke around, and hopefully learn some things you didn\u2019t know!<\/p>\n<h2>Follow-ups: eShop discounts, \u2018Growth stocks\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae1abd1d-f326-4217-bd8d-221ac6f9b336_800x460.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/ae1abd1d-f326-4217-bd8d-221ac6f9b336_800x460.jpeg&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:460,&quot;width&quot;:800,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:86134,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-1.jpg\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>A couple of recent GameDiscoverCo newsletters have seen more widespread feedback, so here\u2019s a couple of follow-ups:<\/p>\n<p>First, the newsletter&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/p\/switch-cracks-down-further-on-extreme\">discussing the eShop\u2019s crackdown on extreme discounting<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;ended up getting pretty popular, including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/2020\/12\/17\/22187545\/nintendo-switch-discount-penny-eshop-best-sellers-great-deals\">a re-report by Polygon<\/a>&nbsp;citing GameDiscoverCo. There were some skeptics on the \u2018$1.99 minimum for North American eShop\u2019 report, because there are still a handful of games that show up cheaper.<\/p>\n<p>But it turns out this is due to some devs (like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/smgstudio.com\/\">SMG Studio<\/a>&nbsp;of Death Squared fame, ahem) setting their discounts months and months ahead, before the rule changed:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">9\u00ef\u00b8\u008f\u00e2\u0083\u00a39\u00ef\u00b8\u008f\u00e2\u0083\u00a3 cents on the Nintendo Switch US eShop \u00f0\u009f\u0091\u0080<\/p>\n<p>Lowest price ever and we&#8217;ll never be able to go this low again as the rules changed.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re the lowest price game on the eShop because I planned the sales 4 months in advance \u00e2\u009a\u00a1\u00f0\u009f\u00a7&nbsp;\u00e2\u009a\u00a1 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UAvVDwaRUn\">pic.twitter.com\/UAvVDwaRUn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SMG Studio: Buy Moving Out for Xmas! (@smgstudio) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/smgstudio\/status\/1339892868744298501?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Relatedly, it&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/martinlindell\/status\/1339090908449550336\">was pointed out<\/a>&nbsp;as a follow-up that the Japanese eShop has capped the maximum sale price to 100 yen (~1 USD). But due to the more, uhh, \u2018orderly\u2019 approach to Switch in Japan, there\u2019s been less crazy discounting in general for Switch in Japan. Which really can\u2019t be said for North America or Europe, haha.<\/p>\n<p>(Though Martin Lindell does note that he&nbsp;<em>\u201cimagines there will be more games releasing as IARC is now approved, meaning no CERO certificate required for the JP eShop.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;This is a good point, as CERO was a bit of a nightmare(tm).)<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, the&nbsp;<strong>opinion piece&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/p\/opinion-game-company-acquisitions\">on game company acquisitions and \u2018the growth stock bubble\u2019<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong>had an excellent reply from Edo Salvesen at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.finstockcapital.com\/\">Finstock Capital<\/a>, a London-based company that specializes in video game financing.<\/p>\n<p>Edo makes the fair point that it\u2019s not just company execs that are hot on making acquisitions, it\u2019s also their shareholders:&nbsp;<em>&#8220;Those games companies which are listed [on public stock exchanges] (Team 17\/Keywords etc) and are already generating profit are being questioned by investors what they are doing with the excess cash they are producing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>They have a number of options available to them. They could return it to shareholders [as dividends], but it\u2019s in management\u2019s interest to keep hold of it and prove that they can hit long term incentives. By returning to shareholders they are limiting their own growth plans &#8211; so they would argue that by investing in Company A\/B or C, they are generating better returns.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So \u2018game companies are profitable, nothing else to do but buy more companies, since your investors insist on it\u2019 seems to be the reality for public firms, in this growth-centric ecosystem. Not a massive fan of this infinite roll-up scenario, but that\u2019s where we are at.<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks for supporting GameDiscoverCo in 2020!<\/h2>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb7596d08-8b83-4987-8a9a-6e21d06d0dff_2457x1244.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b7596d08-8b83-4987-8a9a-6e21d06d0dff_2457x1244.jpeg&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:737,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:203831,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-2.jpg\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Before we get to the round-ups, wanted to thank all of you for reading and supporting&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/subscribe\">the GameDiscoverCo newsletter<\/a>&nbsp;&#8211; and&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamediscover.co\/\">the company<\/a>&nbsp;&#8211; in 2020! Consulting clients like&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/nomorerobots.io\/\">No More Robots<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dotemu.com\/\">Dotemu<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.akuparagames.com\/\">Akupara Games<\/a>&nbsp;&amp; a number of others I can\u2019t talk about have made it a rewarding and fun time for us so far.<\/p>\n<p>And I definitely want to thank those who supported the GameDiscoverCo Plus newsletter and data tier when it launched &#8211; it\u2019s already&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/simoncarless\/status\/1339333966340341761\">one of the top 10 paid technology newsletters<\/a>&nbsp;on the Substack platform, after just a month or so, woo.<\/p>\n<p>While I\u2019m here, a quick note about enhancements for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/p\/gamediscoverco-plus-subscribe-today\">GameDiscoverCo Plus subscribers<\/a>. We recently added Steam Hype scores on our Plus back-end details page for every single unreleased Steam game, updated daily &amp; browsable on demand. (I&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gamediscoverco\/status\/1341115022357852160\">showcased this on Twitter<\/a>, re: Back 4 Blood\u2019s swift rise to a near-Top 30 Hype score as one of the most anticipated Steam games. And did you know that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/simoncarless\/status\/1340326988611870726\">Party Animals is now #1 on the GameDiscoverCo Steam Hype list<\/a>, after Cyberpunk\u2019s release?)<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re not planning to make GameDiscoverCo a \u2018data coming out of our ears\u2019 Newzoo or EEDAR competitor. But we will continue augmenting our Plus-exclusive newsletters with interesting data, AMAs, Discord conversations and analyses you can\u2019t get elsewhere &#8211; so&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/subscribe\">sign up &amp; help us keep up the good work<\/a><\/strong>!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The game discovery news round-up..<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfbc211a-88cb-4437-9844-27bcd4668057_800x384.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/bfbc211a-88cb-4437-9844-27bcd4668057_800x384.jpeg&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:384,&quot;width&quot;:800,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:62959,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-3.jpg\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Since the last newsletter didn\u2019t have any round-up elements, we\u2019re backed up with just a few billion links here. So let\u2019s bust \u2018em all out at once and dissolve your brain into gelatinous material:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Some of you may remember this from last year, but Facepunch Studios (Rust, Garry\u2019s Mod) is very, very transparent &#8211; so much so that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/facepunch.com\/news\/2020\">its 2020 year in review blog<\/a>&nbsp;posted its lifetime revenue for both games. Comparing it&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/facepunch.com\/news\/2019\">to 2019\u2019s post<\/a>, looks like Rust sold 530,000 copies during 2020, and grossed another $43 million during the year (wow &#8211; it\u2019s $40, and has DLC and an item store.) And Garry\u2019s Mod did $11 million gross and 1.7 million extra copies. Pocket change, then.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Lots of Steam stuff: the Valve team&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/steamcommunity.com\/groups\/steamworks\/announcements\/detail\/2947007387788837679\">published a retrospective on the Autumn Sale<\/a>&nbsp;noting that&nbsp;<em>\u201cjust shy of a million players bought a game or made a microtransaction on Steam for the very first time (a 33% increase over the same timeframe in 2019)\u201d;<\/em>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/steamcommunity.com\/games\/593110\/announcements\/detail\/2904223825295303144\">Top Steam releases of November 2020<\/a>&nbsp;include a lot of Early Access =&gt; full releases, and are worth perusing at length; the latest Steam weekly charts&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/topsellers\/2020W51\/\">are still headed by Cyberpunk<\/a>, duh.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Google has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/12\/16\/google-stadia-is-now-available-on-ios\/\">rolled out Google Stadia on iOS devices<\/a>, and&nbsp;<em>\u201cas expected, the company is using a web app to access the service.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;Seems fairly easy, but the adoption will clearly not be as good as a dedicated app due to the extra steps:&nbsp;<em>\u201cHead over to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/stadia.google.com\/\">stadia.google.com<\/a>&nbsp;from your iOS device. Log in to your Google account, add a shortcut to your home screen and open the web app.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>I was a little surprised to find that the Epic Games Store&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2020\/12\/17\/22183446\/epic-games-store-spotify-app-store-ambitions\">has added Spotify as an app<\/a>, but as The Verge says:&nbsp;<em>\u201cWith the Epic Game Store\u2019s growing user base, developer-friendly fee structure, and the fact that it now hosts one of the most popular apps in the world, Epic seems to be making the case that non-gaming developers should consider its distribution platform as a viable alternative to other app stores.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em>Or is this partly an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/11\/18\/epic-games-spotify-not-impressed-with-apples-app-store-changes.html\">\u2018Apple lawsuit buddies\u2019<\/a>&nbsp;type thing?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Looks like China is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/tech\/policy\/article\/3114350\/video-games-get-age-based-ratings-china-under-new-guidelines-long\">rolling out a new video game ratings system<\/a>, via the government-backed China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association (CADPA): \u201c<em>The new standard divides games into three age categories: eight, 12 and 16 and older, represented by green, blue and yellow labels respectively.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em>Chinese industry watcher Daniel Camilo&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanielOlimac\/status\/1339213652797181959\">has a Twitter thread on it<\/a>&nbsp;where he notes:&nbsp;<em>\u201cObviously social\/politically sensitive content will still prevent some games to enter China, but [higher age] ratings could (maybe) mean that more gory\/violent elements will be allowed.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;We\u2019re still at the speculation stage, though\u2026<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Chris Zukowski at HowToMarketAGame&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/howtomarketagame.com\/2020\/12\/21\/how-to-increase-your-games-daily-wishlist-rate\/\">has a useful case study<\/a>&nbsp;on a game that increased its base wishlists (something I\u2019ve been talking a LOT about!) by changing, uhh, pretty much everything about itself &#8211; release date, name, tags, screenshots. (I quibble that some of the micro-changes can be graphed down to very specific days. But the \u2018best practices\u2019 approach to getting natural discoverability up is 100% correct &#8211; kudos.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Microlinks: The Independent Games Festival&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/igf.com\/article\/igf-2021-call-judges-now-open\">is looking for judges<\/a>&nbsp;(I recommend it if you\u2019re not planning to enter, it\u2019s a lot of fun!); this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludocious.com\/\">piece on HybridCasual games in the mobile space<\/a>&nbsp;is a window on a whooole other fascinating world; GamesIndustry.biz has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/articles\/2020-12-21-gamesindustry-biz-presents-the-year-in-numbers-2020\">an absolutely gigantic infographic<\/a>&nbsp;about this year in video game numbers.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Microlinks Pt.2: Google Stadia&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/community.stadia.com\/t5\/Stadia-Community-Blog\/This-Week-on-Stadia-Try-Stadia-on-iOS-plus-new-games\/ba-p\/47623\">licensed Cthulhu Saves Christmas as a special holiday game<\/a>, which is a super cute idea; crowdfunding game service Fig is still just about going, but&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fig.co\/campaigns\/push-your-family\">its latest game has just 17 backers<\/a>; follow the GameDiscoverCo Twitter feed to discover stuff like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gamediscoverco\/status\/1341203463833710592\">the hot new U.S. Switch eShop games right now<\/a>&nbsp;&#8211; they\u2019re Moi Rai\/Team17\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/games\/detail\/monster-sanctuary-switch\/\">Monster Sanctuary<\/a>, Peachy Keen Games &amp; WhiteThorn Games\u2019&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/games\/detail\/calico-switch\/\">Calico<\/a>, and Terry Cavanagh &amp; Distractionware\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/games\/detail\/dicey-dungeons-switch\/\">Dicey Dungeons<\/a>, for the record.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>[Happy holidays! We\u2019re&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamediscover.co\/\">GameDiscoverCo<\/a>, a new agency based around one simple issue: how do players find, buy and enjoy your premium PC or console game.&nbsp;You can now&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/subscribe\">subscribe to GameDiscoverCo Plus<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;to get&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/p\/gamediscoverco-plus-subscribe-today\">access to exclusive newsletters, interactive daily rankings of every unreleased Steam game<\/a>, and lots more besides!]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"hide-phone\">\n<h3>Related Jobs<\/h3>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/associate-art-director-vanguard-espoo-34715\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-3.gif\" alt=\"Remedy Entertainment\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/ui-designer-vanguard-espoo-34714\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-3.gif\" alt=\"Remedy Entertainment\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/senior-gameplay-designer-vanguard-espoo-34713\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-3.gif\" alt=\"Remedy Entertainment\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/senior-ai-designer-vanguard-espoo-34712\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-3.gif\" alt=\"Remedy Entertainment\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<hr><\/div>\n<p> <!-- InstanceEndEditable --> <\/div>\n<p><!--end contentbox-->\n<\/div>\n<p><!--end span-16--> <\/div>\n<p> <br class=\"clear\"> <\/div>\n<p><!--end span-21--> <!--begin right sidebar--> <!--end right sidebar--> &lt;!&#8211; <\/div>\n<p> Extra Div &#8211;&gt; <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 21 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[8,2]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 21 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 22 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[8,4]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 22 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 23 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[4,4]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 23 --> <br class=\"clear\"><\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--end content-body-wrapper--> <\/div>\n<p><!--end container--><br \/>\n<!--begin footer--> <!--end footer--> <!-- SiteCatalyst code version: H.21.\nCopyright 1996-2010 Adobe, Inc. All Rights Reserved\nMore info available at http:\/\/www.omniture.com --> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniture.com\" title=\"Web Analytics\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/whos-playing-what-on-playstation-5-4.gif\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt><\/a><!--\/DO NOT REMOVE\/--><br \/>\n<!-- End SiteCatalyst code version: H.21. --> <!-- Begin ADSNATIVE Code --> <!-- End ADSNATIVE Code --><br \/>\n<!--Begin Ad script for pixel --> <!--END Ad script for pixel -->  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;!&#8211; &#8211;&gt; Gamasutra: Simon Carless&#8217;s Blog &#8211; Who&#8217;s playing what on PlayStation 5? Informa Gamasutra is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC&#8217;s registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}