Into the open world
- Over five million open world gamers would like to see George R. R. Martin’s Westeros and Tolkien’s Middle Earth adapted into an open world game – making the franchises the most wanted film and television open world adaptations
- Almost two thirds (63%) of 18–34-year-old gamers play open world games, with two fifths (41%) of them looking to play more in the future
- Open world games offer a sense of escapism that you can’t get with other types of games, according to 70% of open world gamers and 34% of non-open world gamers
- Playing at your own pace (49%), exploring your surroundings (44%), and a seemingly endless number of things to do (36%) are the most liked aspects of open world games
Into the open world: George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings most wanted film and television open world adaptations as open world games set their sights for further awards.
The year 2023 has given us a plethora of high-quality open world video games. In fact, three of seven titles up for The Game Awards’ Game of the Year award are open world. Last year’s winner, Elden Ring, a collaboration between Dark Soul’s creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Throne’s George R.R. Martin, was just that.
Open world games are back in the news this December, with gamers seeing the arrival of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Ubisoft’s latest triple AAA title, and teaser trailers for the long-awaited instalments of Dragon Age and the Grand Theft Auto series.
As big studios adopt the genre, winning awards and generating big money, Opinium asks: what makes open world gaming so compelling? And what would gamers like to see next?
With films and TV shows being increasingly adapted by video game studios (Avatar, Harry Potter, and less successfully The Walking Dead and King Kong), UK open world gamers are most interested in seeing George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon (29%) and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit (29%) as the next open world titles adapted from a film or TV series. This means that over five million open world gamers would like to see an open world Westeros and Middle Earth (5,704,413 and 5,504,958 respectfully). Perhaps as large fictional worlds with deep lore and a wide variety of source materials to build from, gamers thought they would provide the best open world experiences. Meanwhile, Stranger Things (28%), Jurrasic World (27%) and Pirates of the Caribbean (23%) were all other popular settings for a new open world game.
Thinking about the open world’s map, the majority of open world gamers are more likely to choose quality over quantity, opting for a smaller map with a more detailed environment to a larger map with less detail (56% vs. 30%). This suggests that open world gamers are still looking for a curated experience, and perhaps why triple AAA title Starfield faces a mixed response on Steam, with developer Bethesda responding to accusations that the game is “empty” or “soulless” due to its sprawling, computer generated world.
But when the game gets it right, what makes open world gaming so compelling? For 70% of open world gamers, the genre offers a sense of escapism that you can’t get with other types of games – a sentiment agreed by a third (34%) of non-open world gamers.
Beyond escapism, the ability to play at their own pace (49%), explore their surroundings (44%), and a seemingly endless number of things to do (36%) are all part of what makes open world gaming so compelling.
Target audience is an important factor driving the games industry to adopt the open word genre. Almost two thirds (63%) of gamers aged 18-34 years old play open world games, while 41% are expecting to play more in the future.
This is a sizable proportion of the games market, and perhaps indicates why developers are continuing to embrace the open-world genre and hopefully produce the next Grand Theft Auto V, Elden Ring, or Baldur’s Gate 3.
Written by Robert McLean, Junior Research Executive.
