Video games are big business: the global gaming market is projected to be worth more than $300 billion by 2027 according to Mordor Intelligence. With so much money at stake, the major game publishers are hugely incentivized to create the next big hit. But are games getting better, or has the golden age of video games already passed?
In this project, you'll analyze video game critic and user scores as well as sales data for the top 400 video games released since 1977. You'll search for a golden age of video games by identifying release years that users and critics liked best, and you'll explore the business side of gaming by looking at game sales data.
Your search will involve joining datasets and comparing results with set theory. You'll also filter, group, and order data. Make sure you brush up on these skills before trying this project! The database contains two tables. Each table has been limited to 400 rows for this project, but you can find the complete dataset with over 13,000 games on Kaggle.
game_sales table
game_sales table| Column | Definition | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the video game | varchar |
| platform | Gaming platform | varchar |
| publisher | Game publisher | varchar |
| developer | Game developer | varchar |
| games_sold | Number of copies sold (millions) | float |
| year | Release year | int |
reviews table
reviews table| Column | Definition | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the video game | varchar |
| critic_score | Critic score according to Metacritic | float |
| user_score | User score according to Metacritic | float |
users_avg_year_rating table
users_avg_year_rating table| Column | Definition | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| year | Release year of the games reviewed | int |
| num_games | Number of games released that year | int |
| avg_user_score | Average score of all the games ratings for the year | float |
critics_avg_year_rating table
critics_avg_year_rating table| Column | Definition | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| year | Release year of the games reviewed | int |
| num_games | Number of games released that year | int |
| avg_critic_score | Average score of all the games ratings for the year | float |
To identify the top 10 best-selling games from our database, we employed the following SQL query methodology. We began by querying our games_sales table, selecting all relevant fields and arranging them in descending order based on the number of games sold. This was achieved using the ORDER BY clause with the DESC keyword, ensuring the titles with the highest sales figues appear first. To focus solely on the top 10 results, we utilized the LIMIT keyword within PostgreSQL. This approach efficienty pinpointed and ranked the most commercially successful games in our dataset.
-- best_selling_games
SELECT *
FROM game_sales
ORDER BY games_sold DESC
LIMIT 10;
Topping the list is Wii Sports for Wii, developed by Nintendo EAD, which has sold 82.9 million copies worldwide. Following is Super Mario Bros. for NES, aslo developed by Nintendo EAD, wih 40.24 million copies sold. Another standout title is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for PC, developed by Valve Corporation, which has sold 40 million copies, securing third place.
Notably, Nintendo EAD emerges as dominant developer in this ranking, contributing six out of the top 10 highest-selling games. This underscores Nintendo's enduring influence and popularity in the gaming industry.
To analyze game release patterns and average critic score, we query the critics_avg_year_rating table. Our SQL query selects the year, the number of games released in each year, and the avergae critic score for those games. We filter the results to include only years where at least 4 games were released. Grouping the data by year, we then sort it in descending order based on the average critic score. Finally, we limit the output to display the top 10 years with the highest average critic scores, providing insights into the most critically acclaimed periods in gaming history.
-- critics_top_ten_years
SELECT year, num_games, avg_critic_score
FROM critics_avg_year_rating
WHERE num_games >= 4
GROUP BY year
ORDER BY avg_critic_score DESC
LIMIT 10;Based on the findings, it is evident that 1998 stands out as the standout year, with 10 games released and achieving the highest average critic score of 9.32. Following closely is 2004, which saw 11 game releases and garnered an average critic score of 9.03. Additionally, 2002 performed strongly with 9 games released and an average critic score of 8.99. These insights highlight notable years in gaming history characterized by both prolific output and exceptional critical acclaim.
Now, we analyze the average critic score and average user score of the games released for each year. This involved calculating the difference between these scores. We joined two tables: critics_avg_year_rating (aliased as c_rating) and users_avg_year_rating (aliased as u_rating), performing an inner join based on matching years (c_rating.year = u_rating.year). We filtered the results to include only years where either the average critic score or the average user score exceeded 9. The query then sorted the results chronologically by year, enabling us to examine trends in critical and user reception of games over time.
-- golden_years
SELECT c_rating.year, c_rating.num_games, c_rating.avg_critic_score, u_rating.avg_user_score,
(c_rating.avg_critic_score - u_rating.avg_user_score) AS diff
FROM critics_avg_year_rating AS c_rating
INNER JOIN users_avg_year_rating AS u_rating
ON c_rating.year = u_rating.year
WHERE
(c_rating.avg_critic_score > 9 OR u_rating.avg_user_score > 9)
ORDER BY c_rating.year;To identify the golden year in video game history, we sought the year with the smallest difference between average critic scores and average user scores. Focusing on years where either metric surpassed 9, our analysis pinpointed 1998 as the standout year. In 1998, with 10 games released, the everage critic score was 9.32 and the average user score was 9.5, resulting in a minimal difference of 0.18 between these scores. This signifies 1998 as the golden year of video games, characterized by exceptionally high acclaim from both critics and users alike.