There are more than a million video games in the world and more than 30 of their genres.
Since the earliest days of computer games, innovations in technology and hardware have driven their evolution, and gaming genres have adapted to reflect these improvements: look at the earliest text-based RPGs and The Witcher 3 to see how far the genre has come in more than three decades.
More than one book on game design has been written on why a particular genre is popular and what makes it appealing to players. The game should have a balance of difficulty, pace, competition, humor, and a bunch of other parameters. You can invest millions of money in marketing, but if the game ends up being complicated, confusing, with ill-conceived gameplay mechanics, it will die without bringing the creators any profit. Given that today’s players are spoiled and hard to capture, developers have to work hard to get their game to resonate. And this kind of natural selection has led us to the dominance of certain genres.
The list of the best selling games for October 2022 looks like this:
We see action, sports, adventure and RPGs at the top. It is these genres that give maximum playability to players and plenty of opportunities for developers.
The modern shooter evolved from arcade games and remains the most popular among modern gamers. Shooter format gives developers a wide choice of different settings – you can take real historical events as it was in Call of Duty, or put the player in an alien world as in Halo or Quake.
It is estimated that in 2022, twenty percent of gamers will prefer shooters. The popularity of this genre makes it easier for people to find allies and opponents in the online arena. That’s why shooters take the first place among the most popular gaming genres.
RPGs are in second place – eleven percent of gamers will choose these games. Now there is much debate about what to consider a role-playing game, but it is safe to say that any game with a structure based on the selection and management of inventory, fits under this definition. Such games began as text-based PC adventures, but are now branched out 3D adventures taking place in an open and vast world. The MMORPG market is expected to grow 9.5% by 2026.
Sports games, from the first Pong to the latest EA SPORTS FIFA, take excitement, engage the player and allow for online gameplay.
