On the 3rd, amid the effects of martial law, overall game usage decreased, while the FPS (first-person shooter) genre recorded an upward trend. This reflects a tendency among gamers to prefer FPS games as a means to relieve reality's tension through intense action and immersive content. Among them, Riot Games' Valorant solidified its position as the top FPS, surpassing major competing titles, while Blizzard's Overwatch has fallen behind due to user exodus and declining market share.
◇ Blizzard's Overwatch experiences a decline in playtime
According to data from the gaming statistics service GameTricks for the first week of December, Valorant recorded a 5.48% increase in playtime compared to the previous week, totaling 243,140 hours, and held a market share of 7.93%, leading the FPS genre. It outperformed Nexon's FPS competitor Sudden Attack (5.99%, usage time 183,649 hours, an increase of 0.43%) and also widened the gap with Krafton's Battlegrounds (5.13%, 228,652 hours, a decrease of 0.71%).
In contrast, Overwatch, also an FPS, recorded a market share of 4.47% and playtime of 137,264 hours, with a significant decrease of 5.03% in playtime compared to the previous week.
Overwatch, which became a subsidiary of Microsoft (MS), was praised for presenting a new paradigm in the FPS genre with its innovative gameplay and attractive characters upon its release in 2016. At launch, it captured the top position in PC café market share, surpassing League of Legends, but it is now failing to gain attention even amid the ongoing popularity of the FPS genre.
Recently, the overall rise of the FPS genre has become more pronounced amid decreased playtime across other game genres. The top game, League of Legends, saw a market share of 42.57% and playtime of 1,306,051 hours, which represents a decline of 3.52% compared to the previous week, while the representative sports title FC Online also fell to a market share of 7.49%, with playtime reduced by 3.41% to 229,860 hours.
The RPG (role-playing game) genre also experienced a downward trend. Smilegate's Lost Ark showed a market share of 2.97% and playtime of 91,071 hours, down 3.89% from the previous week. A game industry source noted, "FPS offers players a kind of psychological liberation beyond simple fun through urgent combat and strategic play, particularly surfacing in specific social situations that induce stress."
◇ Tencent's Riot Games greatly surpasses MS's Blizzard
Riot Games, the developer of the number one FPS game Valorant, is a subsidiary of China's Tencent. Tencent has utilized its vast capital and global network to elevate Valorant alongside League of Legends in the global gaming market. This creates pressure on traditional Western gaming companies and poses a threat to established industry powers, including Blizzard.
Riot Games is recognized for maintaining the game's popularity through regular content updates and the addition of new agents and maps for Valorant. In contrast, Overwatch is losing its competitiveness due to slow updates, a lack of content, and frequent server issues that have heightened user dissatisfaction.
The gap between the two games is also evident in esports. Valorant's VCT (Valorant Champions Tour), organized by Riot Games, has established itself as a next-generation esports powerhouse through systematic league operation and global popularity. Notably, this year's VCT Seoul recorded a peak concurrent viewership of 3.45 million, attracting the largest audience in the history of VCT events.
This factor is contributing to the shrinking position of Overwatch. Following last year's tournament, announcements indicated substantial changes or reductions to the league, raising questions about its sustainability.
Additionally, the crisis facing Overwatch is primarily attributed to the excessive application of 'political correctness', leading to a loss of its existing fan base. For instance, in 2019, the decision to portray the popular character Soldier: 76 as a homosexual emphasized elements unrelated to the game's core essence, provoking backlash from users. There were also critiques that changes to the design of female characters diminished the game's aesthetic appeal.
A source from a domestic game company remarked, "The case of Blizzard and Overwatch serves as a cautionary tale for the gaming industry. Recent domestic companies concentrating on subculture genres featuring attractive female characters is also an effort to win the hearts of gamers."