53% of worldwide gamers prefer singleplayer, but young players between 16-24 prefer online PVP

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More than half of worldwide surveyed gamers like singleplayer games the best, but the story is different for younger audiences--hence why publishers are still chasing and perpetuating live service trends.

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The battle between live services and singleplayer games has been waging for a while, and it's now almost as old as the ever-shrinking battle between frame rate vs fidelity. Thanks to forever games like Fortnite, which has made $20 billion in revenue in less than a decade, everyone is trying to break into the live service market--even traditional singleplayer-makers like Sony.

The market has shown that there's more than enough room for both live and singleplayer games to co-exist, but microtransactions still reign supreme, likely due to their constant always-on storefronts and comparatively lower costs. Even still, analyst firm Midia has conducted some interesting research that shows surveyed players typically prefer to play singleplayer games on average when compared to other forms of gaming like PVE, couch co-op, and online PVP.

The research saw 9,000 gamers surveyed across multiple countries and regions, with 53% of them, or 4,770 users, on average preferring singleplayer games.

The study also shows that younger players in the 16-24 age bracket still mostly like to play online PVP games, but the margin between their preferences for PVP and singleplayer aren't significantly wide.

As gamers age, though, they lean towards singleplayer; the sole focus is prioritized by gamers starting in the 25-34 age bracket, and significantly increases with age. In the 55+ bracket, for example, 74% of gamers say they prefer singleplayer experiences, likely because of the different tempo of lifestyles with these ages. Singleplayer offline experiences let users play at their own pace, complete with a pause button and saves. Live games, on the flipside, are...well live.

That being said, publishers are eager to capture newer generations of players because they will live longer than people that are in, say, their mid fifties. And for billion-dollar companies, the real focus is re-engaging and capturing all audiences, but especially those with the largest longevity.