Gamasutra has an article today examining the rates of return for gamers to play previous installments in gaming sequels after the next installment in a game series has been released. Their numbers and data indicate very strongly that players are all for upwards and onwards, leaving the first Gears of War, Rock Band 1, and other older games in the dust as their younger brethren are released. Aside from that conclusion, a very telling part of the article includes graphs showing the number of players per day, over time, for both Rock Band games and the most recent three Guitar Hero games. The graphs show the trends but not specific numbers. I’ve Photoshopped the graphs to put them all on one chart for better comparison. Take a gander:
