Solsten, the audience intelligence solution with the largest psychological database in the world, has shared its player report for 2025.
The report examines the players’ psychological traits and helps companies better understand their player base. The report has directly assessed 359,033 players over 250 countries.
Traiot of the year: Moderation
Across all 200+ psychological traits and values that Solstens measured, none showed a more dramatic year-over-year transformation than moderation.
Moderation is a personality trait reflecting one’s ability to regulate impulses, emotions, and behaviors to maintain balance and avoid extremes.
The players are choosing quality over quantity. Depth over breadth. Intentionality over compulsion.
The data shows that players are seeking experiences that respect their time and deliver more meaningful satisfaction in shorter sessions rather than dominating their lives.
Large increases in moderation could mean that as game ecosystems become increasingly complex, players gravitate toward experiences that deliver deeper satisfaction in shorter timeframes.
Genre Overview
- Casual genres are on the rise with Merge Games, Match 3 and Puzzle leading the trends.
- The Battle Royale genre saw the steepest decrease in players across all genres.
- FPS and Shooter games followed the Battle Royale genre in second place.
- RPG and MMORPG players value creativity more than competition, with most points in any of the genres.
- Players rank highest in valuing teamwork, freedom, and autonomy in strategy games.
- Older female players in casual games showed a stunning 14-point increase in achievement orientation. Retired players demonstrated an even more dramatic 29% leap in personal enhancement values. The casual vs. hardcore divide is collapsing before our eyes.
The full report includes strategic recommendations for developers, marketers, publishers, and investors.
Get full access to the Solsten’s State of the Player 2025 Report here.
