Gaming can be a fickle industry, with audiences hopping from one game to the next without much thought. Because of this, games that can retain audiences for years are regarded as very special.
But in Q1 2022, no new releases cracked the top 10 most-played games in the first three months of this year. According to Mat Piscatella of the NPD Group, the most-played game so far is Minecraft, which was released in 2009. Popular games from 2020, such as Call of Duty: Warzone and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, were also featured.
Arguably the hottest release this year, Elden Ring didn’t even make it above No. 20. This alone proves how hard it is for a new game to make an impression on a wider audience.
In the tweets below this, Piscatella elaborates on his team’s findings, like how live service games are “gravity wells” for retaining player attention. He says that both big and small games will need to be more aggressive to break through these evergreen titles. According to him, services like Xbox Game Pass and PS+ will help, but it still may be tough.
Instead of working with aggressive sales goals and marketing budgets, Piscatella asks why don’t these big publishers launch their games onto subscription services on day one. This almost immediately guarantees a player base as users will always be looking for new games on this service.
Piscatella said that game companies think they must meet certain sales goals before putting their game on a subscription service. Instead, he says that companies should try the traditional route, and if it doesn’t work, try new routes like subscription services or something else that puts the game in front of as many players as possible.
Most Popular Games (2004 – 2021) but is a MUSICAL BATTLE
Apex Legends – 411,183 (Steam)
Respawn’s Apex Legends stealth dropped out of nowhere and then proceeded to take the battle royale genre by storm. It proved the perfect recipe of compelling gameplay, AAA production quality, and a free-to-play business model that saw it succeed in temporarily dethroning Fortnite and PUBG as most-played and most-watched multiplayer games.
The numbers have definitely dipped since its opening month saw a record 2 million concurrent players, but despite the occasional bump along the way, its community has remained pretty sizeable. It’s safe to say that Apex has muscled its way into the genre and secured its place for the foreseeable future.
So far, Apex Legends has peaked at 411,183 on Steam alone in 2022. With console numbers added in there, we wouldn’t be surprised if the total was edging a million on a good day.
Dota 2 – 786,118
Another game that’s up in concurrent player numbers year-on-year is Dota 2. Its growth actually seems at odds with the popular opinion that Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre is dying. Sure, it’s true that MOBA games aren’t seeing growth like they once were, but don’t for a second think that they’re going anywhere anytime soon.
DOTA 2, the sequel to the genre’s founding father, still eclipses most of the competition. Over the past 12 months, it’s regularly nearing a million concurrent players, and sometimes exceeding that total, despite having been around for nearly a decade.
Like CS: GO, its esports presence has nurtured a passionate community of players that aren’t in any hurry to move onto a new IP. DOTA 2 is also a big noise in the east, particularly in China, which accounts for a substantial percentage of its player base.
Most Popular Games in 2022
This list is according to the most sold copies on all the platforms to date. So, here are the most popular video games in the world:
FAQ
What is the #1 game in 2022?
PUBG is games number 1 in the world especially for battle royale game which is still very popular in 2022. Games which was released in 2018 has a very large number of players all over the world.
Is Minecraft No 1 game in the world?