How have the popularity of video game genres and ratings, as measured by sales, changed over time and what are the psychological impacts of playing games from these popular categories?

Introduction

The ultimate pastime of playing video games has become increasingly popular in recent times. A report by Entertainment Software Association (ESA) claims that 65% of adults in the US play video games, with the average age of a player being 35. Video games are a mainstream conduit for entertainment that people of many ages and demographics partake in on a regular basis via a variety of platforms or consoles. Popularity in the hobby shows no signs of slowing down, however the landscape of gaming is changing rapidly as online gaming continues to grow, video games become more and more accessible to players, and different genres gain popularity.

Video games are classified into categories, or genres, that are determined based on various elements of the gameplay, and the overall theme. Longstanding common game genres include action, adventure, role-playing, sports, and puzzle. Needless to say, select genres are more popular than others and some video game genres have been the target of criticism in popular media.

Action or shooter genre games often contain violent content, thus they are often criticized for the potential negative impact they may have on their audience. Some studies have linked games of this category to aggressive behavior in players. Although the actual psychological effect on players is still being heavily studied and debated, their popularity has not faltered.

This study aims to analyze video game genre popularity over time juxtaposed with trends in ESRB ratings. Evidently trends in entertainment culture have a significant impact on society. Certain genres, such as first-person shooters, have been surgically analyzed by popular media because of their believed negative psychological impacts. News sources have popularized the potential behavioral impact of video game usage during adolescence, and trusted health research organizations have cited their impacts to early development. The paper aims to answer the question of how video game genre interest has shifted over time and what the psychological impact of the trend is. If it is established that the trend is problematic, how can the push to make these in-game experiences more accessible, realistic and immersive be defended or refuted. 

Tools

Excel & Tableau.

Data

Video Game Sales – Kaggle

Video Game Sales with Ratings – Kaggle

Methodology

Using the dataset of video game sales originally from vgchartz, a variety of visualizations have been created to analyze trends among popular video game titles over time. While this dataset provides a variety of data fields that could be contrasted, the supplement of this dataset with ESRB ratings gives some of the genre analysis another lens. Some visualizations related to trends over time have been created to understand how the landscape has shifted over the course of 40 years. These manipulations of the data have brought to light some trends in the data and an explanation as to why these are relevant is approached in this study.

Results

Game technology and platforms have advanced greatly over the course of a few decades. This change, along with shifts in consumer interests and preferences has made certain genres of games gain a lot of popularity. The first video game, Pong, was released in 1972 and in those nascent years after the birth of the industry, most popular games were simple home console arcade games. From those years onwards, development in the field accelerated as more complex and immersive games like role-playing and first-person shooters gained a great amount of popularity. This shift in studio release and audience preference can be analyzed more granularly.

As seen in the pie chart (Figure 1), when considering all games released over the course of more than 40 years that have sold at least 100,000 copies, the most common genre is Action, which makes up almost 20% of all titles. While this percentage is relatively large, it is important to note that the definition of this genre is a bit vague. Action games are defined as having a lot of fast-paced gameplay such as but not limited to fighting, shooting, or reaching platforms; all of which require quick reflexes.

From the very beginnings of the industry, games categorized as “action games” have become player favorites. During the 1980s, many other new genres came into fruition and gained popularity as well. Action was the leading genre of this decade  as can be seen in the bar chart (Figure 2). While shooter, platform, sports, and puzzle games were also gaining a lot of recognition, they did not come close to the reign that action games had over the market. Popular action games during the 1980’s include Super Mario Bros., Metroid and Contra. 

In the 1990’s video games began to gain more traction in sales and a variety of genres continued to flourish while new ones emerged as well. The total number of successful games released in the 90’s are 5 times more than the previous decade. What is interesting about this subset of years is that sports games rise to being the most popular category amongst video game genres as seen in the bar chart (Figure 3). Sports games are simulated versions of real-world sports such as football, basketball or baseball. Although they have been demoted to second most popular genre, action games continue to thrive in this decade with hit releases like Super Mario World, Doom, and Metal Gear Solid captivating players everywhere. 

The drastic rise in popularity of the fighting game genre is also worth further analysis. The content of this genre is relatively self-explanatory. Games like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken came into fruition during the 90’s and were instant hits. These games paved the road for today’s combat games and established a basis for multiplayer melee.

In the 2000’s a return to the expected trend occurred – action games once again became the most popular video game genre. Iconic releases such as Grand Theft Auto III, Halo and God of War made this decade a pivotal moment in the history of action video game development.

Although shooter games have been at moderate levels of popularity from the early 80’s, it is worthwhile to understand what a shooter is as almost 1000 different shooters were released in the 2000’s as indicated by the bar chart (Figure 4). These games usually involve players using weapons to “eliminate” targets or enemies. While these games are popular among players, their violent content have long made them the subject of controversy and debate. Games like Call of Duty, Half-Life and Doom 3 embody these characteristics in the 90’s. 

Taking a closer look now at genre popularity in the last decade, a larger shift in trend can be seen in the bar chart (Figure 5). In the 2010’s, action games surpassed the growth of any other genre, with more than two times the number of titles crossing 100,000 sales.

By aggregating this base-level understanding of what genres were popular in each decade, trends in video game genre popularity over time can be seen. The line graph (Figure 6) shows genre popularity shifts over the course of the time frame in question. Looking at the red line for shooter games, the upward climb that the category underwent in 2002 was reflected and reversed in a huge decline in genre popularity into 2012. What is curious here is the increase in action genre popularity at the same time of this decline. 

But why does the popularity of shooter games even matter? While conclusive evidence is lacking, some research on the psychological impact of playing shooter video games deems them harmful. Select studies have suggested that those who play shooter games can have increased aggressive thoughts and behaviors. While there are contrarian studies that show how playing shooter games can improve visual attention and spatial cognition, or even positively affect mood and well-being, this research will focus on the potential negatives of this genre. Given that a genre can potentially negatively affect its audience, its audience needs to be restricted to those who are mature and psychologically equipped and this is primarily done via ESRB ratings.

ESRB rating is a classification system (Figure 7) for video games established by the Entertainment Software Rating Board that is used in both the US and Canada. The non-profit, founded in 1994, aims to provide video game consumers and primarily parents with insight into the content of video games. Games are rated on a scale from “E” (Everyone) to “AO” (Adults Only) by a panel of experts based on the overall game’s content. The ratings that the organization assigns are meant to aid parents in the decision making process as to how appropriate some video games are for their children. 

ESRB describes the rating categories as follows:

Analyzing video game popularity in terms of these ratings as shown in the line chart (Figure 8) can shed some light on the correlation between genre classification and age rating. While the E rating has remained most popular over a long period of time, the fluctuations in the M and T ratings are worthy of scrutiny. 

M (Mature) and T (Teen) rated games can possibly contain content that is intensely violent, uses strong language, and presents sexual themes. While the audience for this type of content is moderated by the rating scale, the nature of some of this content can still have a profound effect on its audience. Similar to findings related to shooter games, research on the psychological impacts of playing M and T rated games could include increased aggressive behaviors, especially in younger players who do not abide by the age restrictions.

T rated games well surpassed the number of popular M rated games up until 2012. While the line chart (Figure 9) shows that games rated T drop exponentially in 2012, M rated games continue to be released at a stable pace during this year. Based on the previous findings regarding a steep decline in shooter games during this time frame, this finding is a bit unsettling. 

This brings to question as to whether or not all Shooters are M-rated. Contrary to what is expected, shooter games can be rated M, T, or E (Everyone) depending on the amount of mature content or the level of violence or that the game presents. Given that the whole premise of a shooter is for the main character to use guns or weapons, the fact that some games in this genre are rated E is genuinely concerning. E rated games are meant to be suitable for all ages.

Another possible explanation for this strange data trend is that M rated games involving shooting could be labeled as action or adventure rather than as shooter. Obviously not all action video games with guns are considered shooter games. Action games are however a much broader genre in which games may involve the use of guns for example in fast-paced combat.

Some examples of this inconsistency in rating can be seen in these popular titles (Figure 10). While all of these games involve battle royale shooter-style first-person gameplay, none of them are rated M; in fact one of them, Roblox Phantom Forces, is even rated E for everyone. All of these video games involve killing your opponents using guns and weapons and many of them have realistic, although stylized, graphics. 

In genre categorization, similar inconsistencies exist. For example, these titles (Figure 11) represent some of the best selling video games in the 2010’s. While all of them are rated M and involve first-person combat, shooting, mature themes and violence, one of them, Grand Theft Auto V, is categorized as an action game rather than a shooter. While this game does have story elements that go beyond the concept of shooting and killing, even the game cover openly displays guns. While shooter games have shown to possibly induce negative psychological impacts, these types of games categorized as action contain many of the same themes. 

Reflection

While experts have been trained in the field of video games to determine what rating is appropriate for a game, the rules upon which this system is based seem to be quite vague. When there is so much disparity in how games are rated and consistency is missing, what determines if a game is E, T or M?

Another open question in this research is whether the current rating system, based on a consensus of 3 experts, is an adequate way to assign an appropriate audience to a game. This brings into consideration as to whether deeming something violent, or gauging a level of violence is entirely too subjective for a human to rate.

Resources

IMDB Best Video Games By Each Year (1971-2021)

The Best-Selling Video Game of Every Year, from 1995 to 2019

ESRB

Association for Psychological Sciences: What’s The Psychological Effect of Violent Video Games on Children?

National Library of Medicine: Daily Violent Video Game Playing and Depression in Preadolescent Youth

National Library of Medicine: Does excessive play of violent first-person-shooter-video-games dampen brain activity in response to emotional stimuli?

Frontiers in Psychology: The Association Between Video Gaming and Psychological Functioning

Entertainment Software Association: 2022 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry