[caseyy]

By the way, the games you named are called black hole games. They capture players and don't let go. They are scarce (about 1 in 40,000-60,000), and many industry issues don't apply to them. For example, market oversaturation isn't a problem, player retention isn't a problem, network effects aren't a problem, and old growth engines aren't a problem. They are like “winning the lottery,” but most game developers live in a world where they haven't won.

Another similar exception to the industry rules is the top 20-30 franchises, like NBA2K, GTA, FIFA, Far Cry, Call of Duty, The Sims, Assassin’s Creed, etc. Together, they account for about half the new game and DLC sales. Black hole games take another ~30%, and the remaining 19,000 annually released games share the remaining 20%, with the top 50 games making up 19/20ths of it.

What matters for 95%+ of game developers is performing well in that 20%. And they sell close to 0 lootboxes, for example.