data from kaggle

Data were obtained from kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/gregorut/videogamesales. The dataset contains a list of video games with sales greater than 100,000 copies. It was generated by a scrape of vgchartz.com. Fields include:

  • Rank – Ranking of overall sales
  • Name – The games name
  • Platform – Platform of the games release (i.e. PC,PS4, etc.)
  • Year – Year of the game’s release
  • Genre – Genre of the game
  • Publisher – Publisher of the game
  • NA_Sales – Sales in North America (in millions)
  • EU_Sales – Sales in Europe (in millions)
  • JP_Sales – Sales in Japan (in millions)
  • Other_Sales – Sales in the rest of the world (in millions)
  • Global_Sales – Total worldwide sales.

Global sales

Global Sales by Year_trends

Looking at how the total global sales differed by years, it can be noted that since 1980 sales were continously increasing. But huge decrease can be observed in last 7 years.

Sales by regions

Global Sales by Region

Looking at the sales by regions, we can see that North America region had the biggest contribution to global sales – almost 50%. NA and EU regions together had over 75% contribution to global sales.

Sales by regions timeseries

Here we can see how sales in the regions varied over time. In 1995 North America became the biggest market. In 2008 the sales began to decrease in all regions. The biggest relative fall was in North America.

Number of releases

Number of releases by Year

Here we can see how the number of new games releases was changing. It kept growing up to the 2009, when it started to drop rapidly.

Who released the most?

This image shows top publishers by the number of releases. Two companies that made the most releases were: Electronic Arts and Activision.

Releases by Years

Top Publishers by Releases by Years

Here we can see how the releases looked in the time. The top publisher – Electronic Arts – entered the market in 1992 and made the most releases in years: 2005-2009.

Who made the sales?

Top Publishers by Total Global Sales

Electronic Arts and Activision made most releases, but looking at the sales we can see that Nintendo made the best Total Global Sales. Electronic Arts and Activision are right behing Nintendo.

How did the sales look like?

Top Publishers by Global Sales by Years

This image shows how did the sales look in time for different publishers.

Platforms

Releases by Platforms

Here we can see the number of releases for different platforms. Two top platforms were DS and PS2.

Time marks of release dates for all platforms

Platforms by Years legend

This image shows how the distribution of releases for different platform look like. Most releases for DS were in years 2004-2014, and for PS2 in years: 2000-2011. Typical release time window for main platforms lasts ca 10 years. PC had the largest release window.

Number of releases for platforms

Genres by Platforms

The number of releases in different genres for platforms. The top 5 platforms had the most releases in Action category. The most releases were made for PS2 in Sports category.

Number of releases by genres

Number of Releases by Genres

Here we can see number of releases by genres. Action Games had 20% contribution to total number of games released. Just Action and Sport games were 1/3 of all the released games.

Releases by Genres by Years

This plot shows the moving average of releases in years. In 2004 Action games detronized Sport games. Sport games had the biggest relative fall (since 2010). Action games were released the most, but after 2011 also falling.

Global sales by genres

Global Sales by Genres

Action games are top selling category.

Global Sales by Genres by Years

This plot shows the moving average of sales over time. The biggest falls can be observed for two top genres: Action and Sports.

Sales by genres in regions

Sales by Genres by Areas

Sales by Genres by Areas tab

In Japan the most popular genre was Role-Playing (Pokemon series?). In other regions the most popular genre was Action.

Top games by global sales

Top Games by Global Sells

This image shows the best selling games. The top one is Wii Sports. GTA 5 is in the second place.

Top games by global sales in regions

Top Games by Sells

Looking on sales by regions we can see that top game – Wii Sports sales were mostly in North America. GTA 5 was almost 50:50 in EU/NA. In Japan: Pokemon games significantly outperformed other titles in sales.

Final notes

  • Over last few years there is decrease in sales and in numer of releases
  • NA and EU regions had over 75% contribution to global sales
  • Electronic Arts and Activision were the top most releasing publishers
  • Top most selling publisher was Nintendo
  • Most popular genres were: Action and Sports (34.5% of total sales)
  • Wii Sports, GTA 5 and Super Mario Bros and were best selling games