Have M-Rated Games Maintained Their Market Share Over the Past Decade?

The gaming industry is known for its rapid pace, with a focus on the latest developments and trends. However, it's essential to reflect on the past to gain a deeper understanding of the industry's evolution. This monthly feature highlights significant events in gaming from exactly a decade ago, providing valuable insights into the industry's history. A decade ago, the industry witnessed a surge in M-rated games, with these titles generating a substantial portion of the industry's revenue. Although M-rated games accounted for only about 9% of total releases in 2011, they represented nearly 27% of revenues in the US. The Entertainment Software Association ceased reporting market share data for individual ratings after 2011, likely due to the uncertainty surrounding the potential growth of M-rated games. The industry was still a subject of controversy among politicians, and the Supreme Court's decision to affirm free speech protections for games did not deter critics. Recently, M-rated franchises like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto have experienced significant growth, while other franchises such as Mortal Kombat, Assassin's Creed, and God of War have achieved immense success in recent years. On the other hand, the opposite end of the ratings spectrum has also strengthened, thanks in part to Nintendo's resurgence. The Wii phenomenon had declined by 2011, but recent years have seen the Switch thrive, along with popular titles like Fortnite and Minecraft. The pandemic has also contributed to the growth of the market, attracting both new and lapsed players. To understand the current market share of M-rated games, we obtained data from Circana, which provided the M-rating market share for physical sales over the past five years. Although this data excludes digital sales, downloadable content, microtransactions, and subscription spending, it offers valuable insights into the current state of the market. The results show that the market share of M-rated titles has fluctuated over the years, with a peak of 35.1% in 2018 and a decline to 22.1% in 2022. The 2018 figure can be attributed to the success of M-rated games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The subsequent decline may be due to the broader audience of people rediscovering consoles or trying them for the first time, driven by the Switch and the pandemic. However, these effects may be waning. The lack of digital sales data for Switch games and the fact that the broader Switch customer base has not adopted digital distribution as heavily as others may have skewed the numbers. Nintendo reported that almost 48% of software sales came from physical game sales last year, in contrast to other publishers like Ubisoft, EA, and Take-Two, which have a much higher percentage of digital sales. The overall M-rated market share on consoles and PC might be higher when factoring in digital numbers, but the concern about the industry marginalizing itself by relying too heavily on gratuitous violence is less pressing today. The gaming medium has grown and diversified over the past decade, producing megahits across various platforms, audiences, and monetization models. The M-rated segment of the AAA console and PC space is no longer the face of the industry, but rather one aspect of a more diverse and thriving market.