Another year another graph!

Old graphs:
January 2012
January 2011
January 2010
January 2009



Like previous years, the Arcade data is taken from Arcade-history.com

New is the black line, which shows the total number of games released each years when ignoring re-releases and ports. This line excludes data from Arcade games. Also note that this still includes shovelware and special editions as that's how MobyGames is set up.

• You can clearly see the increase in games from the 80s due to all the new platforms that have been added last year.
• First year where there are a number of platforms without any games listed
• We seem to be lagging behind on new releases for 2011 and 2012. This is particularly true for PC and Mac. My guess is we lost some social games contributors.
• Hardly any changes in the late 90s early 00s since last year
• The black line clearly shows that the massive increase in the late 80s is mostly just ports between the various PC platforms

Discuss!

Thanks, I was afraid you won't do it this year due to this "Xanax" ;) guy research.

One number I'm always interested is the number of new games contributed through the year, did we break a new record?

According to my numbers from previous years:

2012: 8932 games added
2011: 6644 games added
2010: 6666 games added
2009: 6577 games added

So that would make this year a huge increase over previous years which were all roughly the same. Again the huge amount of added platforms with ports of games that we already had in the database is of course the reason for this. Still an impressive number though!

Cool data as always, interesting to see how much the '80s section has grown from the new platforms. Though it pains me a little that the MD's sliver will never grow any larger. ;) Any reason you didn't put labels on the major platforms this time?

I'm hoping the Supervision will actually be visible on next year's graph. Spent the last few days working on adding more of the dumped games, but there's still a few dozen to go.

I was in a hurry. I wanted to get it out of the door before I had other engagements. If it helps; the platforms are listed chronologically. In the list, the further down the older they are (earliest known release date of the platform). In the graph that means the further to the bottom left you go the older the platform.

So does anyone have an idea what's up with the drop after 1995?

Compare the number of active platforms. After the computer market pretty much slimmed down to PC and the console market started narrowing down to just a few manufacturers, and before handhelds and mobile and apps started their onslaught. Or that's what I think at least.

There's also the fact that they are harder to emulate and therefore also to document.

Would you mind uploading the document with the raw data? I'm interested in taking a closer look at some of the platforms that aren't visible in the graph.

I hope you have MS Excel:

download

Thanks! Very interesting.