The end of the year is marked in large part by the holidays, but it also means year-end content -- and gaming is no exception to this. From awards to game of the year lists, everyone likes to get in on the fun and celebrate the preceding year's slate of games. A seminal part of this is year in review data, highlighting an individual player's stats. This is far from exclusive to the gaming industry, as services like Spotify and Snapchat also blast out this information to their users, but it's particularly special for gamers.
Nintendo has recently gotten in on the fun with its Nintendo Switch Year in Review, which has begun rolling out to players via email and My Nintendo. It's a fairly comprehensive recap, offering total play hours, most played games and number of games played among other, more granular categeories. It offers a solid overview of how much time (and money) was spent over the course of the year.
Additionally, it's all presented in the fun and colorful way that one would expect from Nintendo. Based on this aggregated data, Nintendo will even suggest some new games to play -- even if the recommendations seem somewhat arbitrary. At the very least, it's a jumping off point when looking for something to try.
Of course, half the fun of looking over this data is sharing it with others, and Twitter is absolutely full of users posting their recaps. Like earning a new piece of loot in Destiny 2, there's an intrinsic satisfaction in proudly sharing and comparing play habits. It's part of the reason that the PlayStation 5's built-in playtime counter is so compelling. Gaming has become a communal hobby based around connection, and getting to contrast this data with others is a natural extension of that.
In doing so, from an anecdotal perspective, a few things are clear. Players spent a lot of time with their Nintendo Switches in 2020, and a lot of that time was spent with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It shows up in the lion's share of gamers' most played titles. Considering its meteoric sales results and year-end praise, this is no surprise. Plus, in a pandemic environment, the game's ability to connect players proved to be essential. It's far from the only game to make a splash, as the console-exclusive Hades -- another top contender for GOTY -- also shows up often when searching #NintendoSwitchYearInReview.
At the same time, there is a surprising amount of diversity in what players engaged with, and a sheer volume of games tried that dwarfs what would've seemed possible just a few years ago. For a while before launch, it was unclear if the Switch would catch on. But now, the variety of software and amount of time spent paints a healthy picture of the handheld-home console hybrid. With the Wii U, while the system was given short shrift, there was nowhere near the breadth of content available in comparison to Switch. This is a much more vibrant ecosystem, and one that is still growing.
With players experiencing dozens of games across hundreds -- if not thousands -- of hours in 2020, it's unclear whether this trend will continue in 2021. After all, the impact of COVID-19 resulted in many people having more time to play games than usual. Still, the appeal of sharing these recaps will no doubt remain. It brings the entire community together and pushes controversy aside. Year in review data evokes celebration and excitement. As 2020 keeps throwing wrenches into the mix to the bitter end, such as the Cyberpunk launch debacle, the Nintendo Switch recap provides an uplifting moment to grab hold of.