Our meeting Video games with Brice N’Guessan, editorial director of Video Games Magazine. 2022 is fast approaching, it is time to take stock of the past year.
franceinfo: First observation, in 2021, the population of players has continued to grow?
Brice N’Guessan: Yes, the French are playing more and more. We have never counted so many players, since 73% of the French population plays video games, and this concerns men, women and all age groups.
For example, there are 7 million players over the age of 60. It must be said that the offer is bloated, both in terms of games and machines for playing: consoles, PCs, smartphones, tablets or even TV box.
Precisely at the level of machines, like other industries, 2021 was marked by shortages …
The video game has not cut it, and the main victims: the new generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles. One year after their releases, it is still difficult to get one of these consoles at 500 euros. Two reasons.
First, a demand that has never been so strong for new machines, and second, the health crisis which has disrupted the supply of components to manufacture these consoles.
However, there is one which does not know the crisis, it is Nintendo which prances at the head of sales of games and which has sold in the world, in 2021, more Switch consoles than the new PlayStation and Xbox combined. Main reasons, a cheaper console, but especially more family games that appeal to a larger audience.
Nintendo which proves that we can seduce a very large audience, a fact that has not escaped other digital and entertainment giants?
Indeed, the Netflix platform, which was until then confined to the broadcasting of series, films and documentaries, launched its Netflix Games service. About ten games available on smartphones and tablets to all subscribers.
Another digital giant, Amazon, which after years of wandering in video game development successfully launched the PC adventure game New World. You must now confirm over time, because it is difficult for new entrants to find a place, regardless of the money you have. Google, which launched its game service Stadia two years ago, is still struggling to convince.
There is one thing that seems to win over gamers, and that is the subscription gaming that Xbox popularized with Xbox Game Pass.
Paying 10 euros to access nearly 400 games, and in particular the latest innovations from the brand, is what Xbox offers. Pay less to play more, a formula that has attracted more than 18 million players around the world. Rumor has it that PlayStation is looking into the subject to come up with such an interesting offer. In short, subscription gaming, we should hear about it in 2022.