Introduction
This data set gives a list of video games with sales greater than 100,000 copies from years 1996 to 2016. As an avid video game player, I chose this data set because I was interested in how video game sales have changed over the years and if there were any patters in video games sales within North America.
This article is meant to demonstrate how dplyr and ggplot2 can be utilized in R.
• Name - The game’s name
• Platform - Platform of the games release
• Year_of_Release - Year of the game’s release
• Genre - Genre of the game
• Publisher - Publisher of the game
• NA_Sales - Sales in North America (in millions)
• EU_Sales - Sales in Europe (in millions)
• JP_Sales - Sales in Japan (in millions)
• Other_Sales - Sales in the rest of the world (in millions)
• Global_Sales - Total worldwide sales (in millions)
• Critic_score - Aggregate score compiled by Metacritic staff
• Critic_count - The number of critics used in coming up with the critic score
• User_score - Score by Metacritic’s subscribers
• User_count - Number of users who gave the user score
• Rating - The ESRB ratings
Here is a link where the data can be viewed: https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/kendallgillies/video-game-sales-and-ratings
This data set was obtained from Kaggle
Highest Average Global Video Games Sales by Platform
This question was the first question I asked as sort of an
introductory question. I was curious to see if there was a specific
platform (X Box, Wii, DS, etc) that earned the highest average of sales
globally. This would help me see if a certain platform has produced
popular games that made a lot of sales. 
Based
on the graph, the Wii video games were the most popular and produced the
highest average global sales with the second highest average being the
DS video games. Both platforms are produced by Nintendo.
Violence and Video Game Ratings
In the US, video games are given a rating based on content to determine if it is age appropriate. Games rated E means the video game is suitable for ages 6 and up, E10+ are for suitable for ages 10 and up, T are for teenagers 13 and up, and M stands for mature so people ages 17 and up. Video games are given these ratings to protect children from playing games that are not age appropriate, such as games heavy on violence.
For this next visual, I wanted to provide evidence for or against the following statement: “Violent genres such as Fighting, Shooter, and Action video games would be rated M or T.” This question is testing if generic violent genres are typically rated M or T because their content is not usually seen as age appropriate for younger audiences.
Below is a table that shows each genre, the total video games in each genre rated M or T, the total games within that genre, and the percent of games for the genre rated M or T.
| Genre | Total M or T games | Total games | Percent of games M or T |
|---|---|---|---|
| Action | 63 | 79 | 0.7974684 |
| Adventure | 3 | 3 | 1.0000000 |
| Fighting | 8 | 8 | 1.0000000 |
| Misc | 6 | 29 | 0.2068966 |
| Platform | 0 | 20 | 0.0000000 |
| Puzzle | 0 | 4 | 0.0000000 |
| Racing | 4 | 22 | 0.1818182 |
| Role-Playing | 27 | 32 | 0.8437500 |
| Shooter | 59 | 60 | 0.9833333 |
| Simulation | 3 | 13 | 0.2307692 |
| Sports | 5 | 37 | 0.1351351 |
| Strategy | 1 | 1 | 1.0000000 |
From this table, it shows that Action and Shooting genres have a high number of games rated M or T, but also, those two genres make up 45% of all games within the data set. In terms of percentage of games rated M or T, 80% of action games are rated M or T and has the 6th highest value among genres. In comparison, 98% of Shooter games (59 of 60) and 100% of Fighting games (8 of 8) are rated M or T. Oddly enough, Role-Playing video games had a higher percentage of games being rated M or T than Action.
Video Game Sales for a Publisher in North America
This next visual is looking at the relationship between sales in North America and Global sales for each publisher. This is visual is trying to see if there is a specific publisher that does well or poorly in North America sales and how that impacts the Global sales.
Based
on the graph, sales in North America has a positive correlation with
global sales. In terms of publisher, Activision had some of the highest
sales globally and in North America. Which means sales in North America
for Activision have a positive correlation with slaes for Activision
globally. The Sony Computer Entertainment was another publisher that
showed high sales in North America lead to high sales globally.
Sales in North America over the Years
For this next visual, I wanted to look at video game popularity over the years. Specifically, I wanted to look at not only sales, but also the popularity of genres in North America. I picked this question because I was curious if there were any specific genres that have been consistently popular in North America over the years.
Over
the years, video game sales were at the highest in North America during
2006, 2008, and 2009. There was a significant drop in popularity from
2006 and 2007 before drastically rising in sales in 2007. Video games
sales in North America has been on the decline from 20010-2016. In terms
of genre, action has been consistent in sales over the years but was not
present in 1997 and 2016. Racing has been one of the most consistent
genres over the years. In 2006 sports was the most popular genre, in
2008 racing was the most popular, and in 2009 platform was the most
popular.
Sales in North America and Globally
With this question, I wanted to know if sales in North America had an
impact on global sales based on rating. I wanted to see if the ratings
on the video games had any impact on the relationship between North
America sales and global sales. For example, did sales in North America
have a greater impact on global sales if the video game was rated E?
Based on the graph, games rated E10+ and M show a positive correlation
between Global sales and North America sales. This means for games rated
E10+ and M, the North America sales for those games have an impact on
global sales.