Newzoo’s 2021–2024 player-panel data shows PvE gaining share in the mix of titles played on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox. The change is largest on Steam. On consoles, PvE and PvP each accounted for roughly the same share in 2024. That is a meaningful shift in what titles players played—not proof that all players prefer PvE, that PvP is dying, or that people spent more hours in PvE.
What do the PvE and PvP numbers actually measure?
Newzoo’s The PC & Console Gaming Report 2025 analyzes player-panel data from 37 markets, excluding China and India. Its figures cover January through December 2024, with comparisons to 2021, 2022, and 2023. The charts divide the share of titles played into PvE, PvP, and mixed PvP/PvE categories. They do not count total hours, unique players in each mode, or responses to a direct question asking players which mode they prefer. Newzoo’s report, pp. 59–60.
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That distinction matters: a player who tries several PvE titles and spends most of their gaming time in one PvP title contributes to a title mix that may not reflect their hours or strongest preference. The chart also does not appear to separate single-player from multiplayer titles, as PC Gamer’s analysis of the report notes.
How did the title mix change from 2021 to 2024?
The endpoint comparison shows PvE taking a larger share on all three platforms. Steam had the largest increase; PlayStation and Xbox changed less, with PvE and PvP level in the 2024 figures.
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| Platform | Year | PvE share | PvP share | Mixed PvP/PvE share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | 2021 | 47% | 34% | 18% |
| Steam | 2024 | 58% | 30% | 12% |
| PlayStation | 2021 | 39% | 39% | 23% |
| PlayStation | 2024 | 42% | 42% | 16% |
| Xbox | 2021 | 39% | 37% | 23% |
| Xbox | 2024 | 41% | 41% | 18% |
All values are Newzoo player-panel shares of titles played, as reported in its 2025 report for the stated data years. The categories may not total exactly 100% because of rounding. The 2021 and 2024 figures establish the direction and scale of the endpoint change; they do not, by themselves, tell how each intervening year moved.
Steam: a clear shift in the title mix
PvE rose from 47% of titles played in 2021 to 58% in 2024, an 11-percentage-point increase. PvP fell from 34% to 30%, while mixed titles declined from 18% to 12%. Steam’s 2024 result is the strongest evidence in these data for PvE gaining ground relative to the other categories.
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PlayStation and Xbox: smaller changes, near parity
On PlayStation, PvE moved from 39% to 42%, while PvP was 39% in 2021 and 42% in 2024. On Xbox, PvE rose from 39% to 41%, and PvP from 37% to 41%. Mixed titles took a smaller share on both consoles in 2024 than in 2021. The console figures show a modest increase in PvE’s share, not a decisive PvE lead over PvP.
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No. Newzoo also compared the composition of titles played with how many titles a player played during 2024. At the 30-title point—which Newzoo says represents approximately 90% of all titles played in a year on each platform—the reported mix was:
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| Platform | PvE | PvP | Mixed PvP/PvE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | 66% | 22% | 12% |
| PlayStation | 52% | 33% | 15% |
| Xbox | 51% | 32% | 18% |
These are shares of titles at that point in the report’s comparison, not evidence that an individual player’s tastes change as they try more games. They also should not be compared with total hours or treated as a direct vote on a favorite mode. Newzoo’s report, pp. 59–60.
Do players prefer PvE or PvP?
The panel does not establish one universal preference. It shows that PvE occupies a larger share of titles played in 2024 than in 2021 on all three measured platforms, especially Steam. It also shows that platform context matters: Steam’s 2024 PvE share was 58%, compared with 42% on PlayStation and 41% on Xbox, where PvP had the same share as PvE.
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Those results cannot be recast as a global player poll. Newzoo’s panel excludes China and India, does not count hours, and classifies titles rather than asking every player to name a preference. A separate developer survey is not a substitute: Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report collected developer responses from October 17, 2024, through February 4, 2025, about studios’ multiplayer plans and player-experience priorities, not a direct comparison of player-side PvE and PvP preferences. Unity’s 2025 Gaming Report.
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Are PvE games more popular than PvP games?
It depends on the platform and on what “popular” means. By Newzoo’s title-share measure, PvE was ahead of PvP on Steam in 2024. On PlayStation and Xbox, the two categories were tied in the reported figures. The data does not establish which mode drew more hours, more unique players, or more intense loyalty, so it cannot answer those different versions of popularity.
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Are PvP games dying?
These figures do not show that PvP is dying. PvP still represented 30% of Steam’s titles played in 2024 and 42% on PlayStation and 41% on Xbox. Its share was lower on Steam than in 2021, but that is a change in the composition of titles played in this panel, not evidence that PvP games are disappearing or that their audiences are collapsing.
Why PvPvE games complicate the debate
A game that combines cooperation and competition need not divide its audience into two exclusive camps. In figures Embark Studios shared with The Guardian, as reported second-hand by PC Gamer on April 16, 2026, roughly 30% of Arc Raiders players focused on co-op, roughly 30% focused on PvP, and roughly 40% enjoyed both. PC Gamer also reported that more than 95% of players use proximity chat. These are figures about one game, not industry-wide estimates or a measure comparable to Newzoo’s title-share chart. PC Gamer’s April 16, 2026 report.
The same story quotes Arc Raiders executive producer Aleksander Grøndal recalling an encounter in which players stopped shooting at one another to face a shared threat: “In an instant—like literally in less than 30 seconds—everyone on that server stopped shooting each other and faced the bigger challenge together.” He added, “And I hadn’t really anticipated the fact that every single one would cooperate that easily in a 30-second timeframe.” These are Grøndal’s recollections of a particular encounter, not a measured rate of cooperation across the game’s player base.
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Grøndal also described the game’s design intent this way: “We want to instil hope in the player.” The quote helps explain the tone Embark says it wants to create, but it does not prove that players as a whole prefer cooperative play. PC Gamer’s account of Grøndal’s comments.
What the numbers settle—and what they do not
- They do show: PvE gained share of titles played from 2021 to 2024 in Newzoo’s panel on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, with the largest change on Steam.
- They do not show: that every player prefers PvE, that PvP is collapsing, or that PvE accounts for more gaming hours.
- They do not measure: whether public arguments about PvE and PvP have become more hostile over time.
- They suggest: treating PvE and PvP as mutually exclusive camps can miss how players engage with games that offer both.
The online debate may sound increasingly absolute, but the cited figures do not measure its tone. They give a more specific answer: the mix of titles played shifted toward PvE in this panel, most sharply on Steam, while the console mix remained close to parity.
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