Ampere's Games Analytics data shows that EA Sports FC 24 increased its lead as the stickiest console title in January, with the average player visiting the game for around one day extra compared with December, beating out long-standing MMOs and other big hitters.

Palworld proves less-than-sticky despite viral success

Pocket Pair’s Palworld was a standout title in January, attracting millions of players and easily dominating monthly active users across new console releases for the month. However, engagement for the game was relatively modest. The average Xbox player visited on just 3.5 days in January, although it is worth noting that Palworld was released over half-way through the month.

By comparison, the average EA Sports FC 24 player on was seen on almost 11 days throughout January – three times as many as Palworld - making it the stickiest title across Xbox and PlayStation. The title’s previous peak engagement was reached shortly after its release, in October 2023, where the average days visited hit 11.3; stickiness of 36.5%. Interestingly, the game has not quite matched the engagement peak of its predecessor, FIFA 23, though the franchise has remained at the top of the rankings for more than one year, consistently beating out the likes of Fortnite, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, and Roblox – and by a considerable margin.

Fortnite & GTA V activity begins to normalise post-holiday season

Following a strong launch, it is likely that EA Sports FC 24 subsequently lost time and attention to the likes of Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto V/Online (GTA V) through November and December. Both of these titles saw huge surges in player activity thanks to various content updates and, for GTA V specifically, inclusion in Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus. However, in the post-holiday-season lull, console gamers are redistributing their time back across a broader range of titles, and EA Sports FC 24 is proving a key benefactor.

In terms of total game time, whilst Fortnite and GTA V declined, many other games saw uplift. Roblox, EA Sports FC 24 of course, NBA 2K, Minecraft, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege all grew in January – with Rainbow Six in particular seeing a huge increase of almost 40% month-on-month. In fact, Ampere's Games - Analytics data shows that around 1m of the game’s January console players were either completely new to the title, or were previously lapsed and had not played in over 18 months - a strong start to the year for the long-standing Shooter.

Clients can read the full report here