Home Gaming Are shooters on the decline?

Are shooters on the decline?

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PEWS

An interesting pie-chart (well, as interesting as pie charts can be, really) over at Dual-shockers has sales data from the Entertainment Software Association compiled from NPD reports, and it shows that shooters are no longer the predominant genre of videogames (in the US).

ESA_Genres-670x351

According the the data, it seems that “Action” games had outsold “Shooters“ in 2012. Of course, that brings forth question of what exactly constitutes a shooter, and hat makes an action game, as most action games have shooting elements, and most shooters are filled with action.

It seems that for the purposes of the ESA’s report, that “shooter” includes first and third person games where shooting is the primary mechanic, say Call of Duty, Battlefield and Gears of War. Action games include games where shooting can happen, but it’s not the defining aspect of the game; games like Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider, Devil May Cry and the like.

I really hope this does show that shooters’ popularity is waning. I’d like to think gamers are growing more and more weary of the genre, and are keen on opening  up to new experiences, giving other genres like strategy games and RPG’s a bash.

The other interesting bit to note is that according to the data, “Casual” games made up just 3% of the market; so perhaps that bubble has well and truly burst.

Last Updated: July 16, 2013

59 Comments

  1. Trevor Davies

    July 16, 2013 at 12:07

    I remember reading once that shooters are only a small percentage of games released by number, but have massive sales.

    Reply

    • John Ambitious

      July 16, 2013 at 12:09

      Makes sense

      Reply

  2. Trevor Davies

    July 16, 2013 at 12:11

    Row row row your shooter, gently down the stream.
    Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, proofreading is but a dream.

    *run*

    Reply

    • Umar Kiiroi Senk?

      July 16, 2013 at 12:11

      hat did you just say????

      Reply

      • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

        July 16, 2013 at 13:34

        HAHAHAHAHA

        Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      July 16, 2013 at 12:21

      DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK

      Reply

      • TiMsTeR1033

        July 16, 2013 at 12:22

        that is not proper, you must be an example to us all.

        Reply

        • Trevor Davies

          July 16, 2013 at 12:55

          He’s a good example, I was being a dick lol

          Reply

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:56

            hush dear boy you know not what you speaketh

      • CrasH

        July 16, 2013 at 12:39

        You do know you spelled that wrong…?
        the correct spelling is D U C K

        Reply

    • CrasH

      July 16, 2013 at 12:33

      Did you know that 3 mistakes in a row….

      is a hattrick…

      Could not get any more cheezy is I tried.

      Reply

  3. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    July 16, 2013 at 12:12

    Not really sure that you can use this data to infer anything really, now if we were looking at trends over time – and it showed that comparatively shooters (presumably FPS and TPS) are in decline, then it would be a more fruity discussion.

    All the pie chart is showing is that at this specific moment, Action games sell marginally more than FPS games in the US, but then Geoff also hit the nail on the head… When’s an action title an action title and when does it become a shooter? You could even go further and ask, is the difference between the sales between action and shooters statistically significant. In other words, are we seeing something real in the data?

    Reply

    • Umar Kiiroi Senk?

      July 16, 2013 at 12:20

      I think Gears is a perfect example of a shooter, when all you do is shoot, move and shoot. Action employs other mechanics like platforming

      Reply

  4. Umar Kiiroi Senk?

    July 16, 2013 at 12:12

    lol … “CASUALS are killing the industry” They cried ……

    Man RPG is just over 6 percent, yowzer! I sure hope shooters are dwindling…..I have had enough of this genre

    Reply

    • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

      July 16, 2013 at 12:13

      I wonder what the sale figures say about South Africa. What are the most popular genres in our neck of the woods?

      Reply

      • John Ambitious

        July 16, 2013 at 12:14

        I would love to know

        Reply

      • Umar Kiiroi Senk?

        July 16, 2013 at 12:15

        That would be very interesting. I think games like COD and gears are very popular here, well judging on the games that are always in stock at retailers, though I doubt we could use that as a basis for judging what is popular

        Reply

        • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

          July 16, 2013 at 12:19

          Don’t forget Fifa… It’s huge in SA.

          Reply

          • Umar Kiiroi Senk?

            July 16, 2013 at 12:20

            Yup that too, it is insanely hard to find an RPG of two years ago, yet retailers are sill selling FIFA 11

          • John Ambitious

            July 16, 2013 at 12:26

            I’ve found the best old games at very random Musica’s in the middle of nowhere.

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:26

            karoo?

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:21

            gee wonder why…..

          • John Ambitious

            July 16, 2013 at 12:21

            You got me

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:21

            huh?

          • John Ambitious

            July 16, 2013 at 12:22

            In other words…I don’t know

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:23

            ummm hmmmmm what do we have alot of in africa….

          • John Ambitious

            July 16, 2013 at 12:23

            Poverty? Crime? Then stuff like Fallout should sell like hotcakes!

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:26

            black people like soccer eish

          • Jonah Cash

            July 16, 2013 at 12:38

            Hey!!! I take offence!!! I is not to be blaaaack!!! I is to be white, but I love me some sokkor!!! I’m also a big fan of rugby, and my team will be playing this weekend(Cheetahs), wonder what the Sharks and Stormers fans will be doing????

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:41

            having a dop more like cheaters LMAO!!!

          • DBL_ZA

            July 16, 2013 at 12:50

            I’ll be supporting you people. Definitely not the Pink Cows, especially after the whooping we gave them last weekend (trollololol).

            To me the Bulls are like Man Utd. Their fans love their team. The rest of the world would rather die than support them, even if they were the country’s last hope at winning something.

          • TiMsTeR1033

            July 16, 2013 at 12:55

            I rather not watch rugby at all. but thats just me.

          • DBL_ZA

            July 16, 2013 at 13:54

            Lol I can fully appreciate that. It’s not fun when your team isn’t in it anymore

        • TiMsTeR1033

          July 16, 2013 at 12:24

          u cant find halo 4 in a cna for 8 months so that is popular

          Reply

      • Admiral Chief Groot Wors

        July 16, 2013 at 12:33

        I’d play GTA Gauteng Edition

        Reply

        • DBL_ZA

          July 16, 2013 at 12:38

          Only if there is a Julius mode/DLC, where the prostitution industry becomes nationalised and anything you take is not deemed theft, but “asset expropriation without compensation”

          Reply

        • TiMsTeR1033

          July 16, 2013 at 12:40

          Id go to jail for loving that game too much! driving down joburg cbd on pavements shooting taxis! watching countless people become rag dolls 🙂 a guy can dream!

          Reply

  5. TiMsTeR1033

    July 16, 2013 at 12:18

    rowing more and more LMAO!

    Reply

  6. Admiral Chief Groot Wors

    July 16, 2013 at 12:20

    Its true becoz PIE CHART says so

    Reply

  7. Ultimo_Cleric N7

    July 16, 2013 at 12:30

    The fact that sports games are still so big makes me ill.

    Reply

    • John Ambitious

      July 16, 2013 at 12:32

      I get you man

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief Groot Wors

      July 16, 2013 at 12:33

      I mean who plays that right?

      Reply

      • TiMsTeR1033

        July 16, 2013 at 12:34

        do I really need to point it out?

        Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      July 16, 2013 at 12:33

      Hahahahaha!!!
      Whahahahahaha!!!
      It is because of idiots like me that they are WINNARS!!!

      Reply

  8. Brendon Bosch

    July 16, 2013 at 12:34

    Sensible gamers ftw

    Reply

  9. Admiral Chief Groot Wors

    July 16, 2013 at 12:35

    Pity not more RPG 🙁

    Reply

    • TiMsTeR1033

      July 16, 2013 at 12:36

      rpgs are slowly dieing due to fact young gamers dont like them as much

      Reply

      • Theo Steenekamp

        July 16, 2013 at 14:43

        Well then, lets make the younger games die slowly. See how they like that!

        Reply

    • That Green Twit

      July 16, 2013 at 12:42

      Yeah. :<

      Reply

  10. Xelus

    July 16, 2013 at 12:41

    Truth be told, you can expect this to happen if you have 10 million shooters all with the same damn plot and the same damn look. 2 original shooters, the rest are spinoffs of those shooters, didn’t expect anything more, innovation and originality is what game developers lack, at least the big corporate ones that is. Indie game developers however have some pretty damn epic concepts!

    Reply

  11. DBL_ZA

    July 16, 2013 at 12:42

    IMO, it’s difficult to specifically say “this is a shooter, this is an RPG, this is action (no, no sparta, action)”, because so many games nowadays blur the lines between genres, that it makes a report/pie chart such as the above quite inaccurate, depending on what the people who created the report class each game as

    Reply

  12. Ryanza

    July 16, 2013 at 13:22

    There has not been a lot of really good first person shooter games this gen.

    Rage had a good shotgun and ak47 but lacked in story and driver issues. Bioshock Infinite had a good shotgun but to me it felt like i was just shooting at the same type of police enemy most of the game and no visual weapon upgrades, wtf.

    Far Cry, Metro, Borderlands, Bioshock 1, Battlefield, Deus Ex. Not a big list.

    I love Bioshock 1 because it was good and it was new. Not a lot of good and new games this gen.

    Lets see, Far Cry got better, Borderlands got better, Bioshock got better, Battlefield always gets better, and Call of Duty has stayed the same since 2007.

    I think Call of Duty sums up this gen of first person shooters because it made the most money.

    Reply

  13. Macethy

    July 16, 2013 at 13:28

    Hey look! The casual section is a whopping 3.0% of the entire market! Let’s focus solely on making games for them said every EA executive…

    Reply

  14. Tarisma

    July 16, 2013 at 14:42

    Wow really surprised that casual is 3%

    Reply

  15. hairyknees

    July 16, 2013 at 15:30

    Header WIN! 😀

    Reply

  16. Paul Fouche

    July 17, 2013 at 09:08

    they losing a lot of good soldiers ( men and woman) to games such as wow 🙁

    Reply

  17. The Joffster

    March 1, 2014 at 17:21

    “Action” seems like a very vague and dubious genre. I could hardly think of any games I’ve played in the last year that couldn’t be described as “action” apart from more experimental indie games like Paper’s Please.

    Reply

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