Do Stories in Games Matter?

When we think of the evolution of video games we often focus on mechanics and technology. It’s hard not to - cutting-edge graphics, spatial audio, cloud streaming and dozens of other marketing-backed innovations are vying for our attention. With all that flash it's easy to overlook a quietly formidable force that has been shaping the industry for decades: storytelling.

Storytelling has been part of us longer than we’ve had the tools to record it. It’s a fundamental and uniquely human form of expression that preserves cultures, shares information, shapes how we see the world, and – one hopes – entertains us. Our need to share narratives has shaped every aspect and form of our entertainment and the technologies we use every day. Since their inception games have embraced storytelling and used their unique mechanics to approach stories in new ways. From text adventures to the pixelated cutscenes of retro-games to the hundred-plus hour epics of today, stories are the thread that stitch together our gaming experiences.

I’ve been in gaming a long time, and I’ve heard the doubters from in and outside the industry. Let me tear apart a few of the more common complaints.

Games don’t need stories to be successful.
The data doesn’t back this one up. We analyzed the best-selling console and PC titles from 2010 to today and found 74% of them were story or character driven. The remaining 26%, mostly sports titles or sandbox games like Minecraft, might not have overt stories but typically gave the player the tools to create their own story in the game’s framework.  

Story gets in the way of gameplay.
Not every game is focused on narrative, but story is always additive to a well made game. Call of Duty’s frantic gameplay doesn’t shout story or demand prestige recognition, but what dedicated CoD player doesn’t know the steely demeanor of Captain John Price or the chill of No Russian? Overwatch – another fast, multiplayer shooter – might not need deep story in every match to be fun, but Blizzard still spent years developing the game world’s backstory and creating unique bios for every hero in it. Story might not be in the spotlight, but it’s almost always there.

Stories in video games aren’t any good.
I have two rebuttals here. First, it’s just not true. There are endless examples of games with stories and characters that rival the best of film, literature, and television. Firewatch, Undertale, Grand Theft Auto, Horizon Zero Dawn, Life is Strange – I can go on endlessly. Secondly, who gets to say what good is? Human experience is a large and endless thing, and one person’s chaotic silliness can be another’s profound joy (lookin’ at you here, Roblox.) 

Let’s take a look at another, more objective proof that story matters – commercial success. Measure it how you like – pre-orders, ARPU, DAU, hours played – it all comes down to the same idea. Was the game a hit? I’ll give you three examples.

Baldur's Gate 3: As I write this, Larian Studios’ epic – the third game in a series that’s been dormant for over two decades - has been out for a few weeks on PC alone and has already become one of the most played games on Steam and spawned an almost 600k person subreddit (mostly focused on the story). Mainstream press is analyzing its success and I suspect (though I lack data to confirm) that BG3 is doing more for the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons and Wizards of the Coast than this summer’s D&D movie did.

The Last of Us: Most video games have short lives – a few months of relevancy and sales before the world moves on. A few truly special ones last a few years. Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic adventure was released over ten years ago on the PlayStation 3 – and it’s still going. One sequel, seemingly endless remasters and rereleases, multiple think pieces, a wildly popular HBO series and tens of millions of sales. It’s a great game and fun to play, but it’s the story of Joel and Ellie that has kept this franchise relevant.

Fallout ‘76: The Fallout series has always been known for large role-playing games with immersive stories and hordes of characters. When Fallout ’76 launched in 2018 as effectively a giant sandbox with few storylines and no real NPCs fans were unpleasantly surprised. One reviewer described the game as a “bizarre, boring, broken mess.” Bethesda set themselves on turning the game around. A big part of that was technical, but an equally critical part was reintroducing a story. With every update and expansion they added characters, plotlines and life to the Appalachian wasteland until it felt (mostly) like a proper entry in the franchise.

Let’s return to the original question – do stories matter in games? Stories create a space for player engagement and loyalty that can elevate a game beyond its base technology and mechanics. That in turn drives the commercial success of the game and the growth and longevity of the franchise its part of. It’s not that stories in games matter, it’s that stories are why games matter.