2020 has been a rough year for a lot of reasons. The primary driver for that has been the global COVID pandemic, which put a big halt on everyday life, and is still reeking havoc in certain regions. It’s forced a lot of people inside for self-isolation and quarantines. At the very least, there has been no shortage of video games this year to try and keep your mind off the world imploding all around us (despite some high profile delays), and people sure are playing them.
On the latest Xbox Wire blog, Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg revealed the staggering amount of time that’d been put into titles under the Xbox Games Studio umbrella. People have put more than 1.6 billion hours of playtime into them, making that the most ever played amount year-to-date. It’s pretty incredible, especially considering the year isn’t even over yet and still have the launch of the Xbox Series X and Series S next month.
Obviously, a lot of that has been people being forced to stay indoors for large parts of the year, but it also ties into Microsoft’s changing business model as almost all Xbox Game Studios titles from past and present are available on Game Pass, making them easier to access than ever before, and the sheer amount of studios they own is a contributing factor. With the recent purchase of Bethesda, for example, there is simply a ton to play for any amount of time.