A data driven survey of video games

Abstract

The video game industry is one of the fastest growing of entertainment industries, with a variety of platforms, genres and cutting-edge technologies. Built upon the cultural heritage and supported by the culmination of hardware and software advancements, video games have evolved as a most interactive cultural medium. While PC and console gaming has been the norm during the golden age of video games, mobile technologies have emerged during the last decade, with potential to disrupt the gaming industry as well. In this study, a survey of game scores over the years reveals some general trends in the industry, from the perspective of end users. The average scores, number of titles, as well as a distribution by genre are extracted from Metacritic database and plotted to show an overview of the PC gaming industry since the inception of user scores and reviews on game-related websites and the implications for traditional gaming in the future.