Analyzing the top 10 most played PC games

July 23rd, 2012

Two weeks ago, I published a report which estimated the top 10 most played PC games by hours spent. There were as follows:

League of Legends
World of Warcraft
Minecraft
Heroes of Newerth
Diablo III
Battlefield 3
Maple Story
Starcraft II
World of Tanks
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Your response was enormous—more than five pages of comments. On average, our "hot stories" see two pages of comments.

What does it all mean? Let me break it down for you.

League of Legends presses all the right buttons. 40% of the top 10 are free to play. Fantasy games > sci-fi. Shooters, although still popular, are seemingly at their lowest rate in 10 years. Starcraft II might be higher if it supported LAN play. And you savvy readers are CONVINCED that Guild Wars 2 will overtake League of Legends later this year upon release.

Did I miss anything?

Comments

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I think that GW2 won't overtake LoL.. Just my opinion =)

Suck my motherf*cking bass :)

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

MrPerryTP

Level 4

726 ARP

I think GW2 has a chance at hitting the top 10 but not the top 5. But I could be proven wrong.

my time has come.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

kinglonewolf

Level 7

5894 ARP

I think LoL will stay at the top because it is free and you can play a quick game and then stop. This targets a wider range of people that don't want to have to invest in a lot of time to a game like Guild Wars 2. That said I think GW2 will be pretty awesome and take up some of my time!!!

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Trmptonfire

Level 5

898 ARP

I am suprised that maple is in the top 10.I think if any thing coming up has a shot at the lead it would be DOTA 2, only time will tell though.

xXNoobtubedXx

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Noobtubed06

Level 7

7618 ARP

how can World of Tanks be on the list I dont know what peopel finde funny in this game

Add me on steam: Super Heartz

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

SuperHeartz

Level 5

984 ARP

I'm not surprised at all. The fact LoL is free is almost like a fee-free WoW.

Press any key to continue...

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

RDemon15

Level 7

3148 ARP

As everyone said above im not surprised by this list. I think the reason why LoL is so popular is because its quick easy to understand free and advertised in many places.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

imooneri

Level 2

200 ARP

I need to try this minecraft Phenom, I remember seeing the beta, and didn't think much of it

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

ThrobSteele

Level 5

868 ARP

gw2 goes in top 5 .. but not on the first place

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

watrob

Level 1

14 ARP

If GW2 would be F2P it would owertake LoL, IMO.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Sumichobo

Level 1

45 ARP

No way GW2 will overtake it. LoL has too big fanbase now. I don't know exactly why are people so excited about GW2 (played it only a bit so I couldn't find it out myself, looked good but just another MMO) but I really doubt it will have bigger popularity, same happened with Diablo 3. LoL will still probably keep the top spot because it's free.

Through all the differences it is still perfection.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Memfisto

Level 7

6152 ARP

ThrobSteele said: I need to try this minecraft Phenom, I remember seeing the beta, and didn't think much of it

If you're going to check it out, don't stop only at the game. Be sure to search over for some mods. The game itself gets boring quickly if you're alone, playing with friends gets you to hours and hours of fun but you get bored with that too when you build almost anything that comes to your mind. My friend plays a mod that adds more than 10 times the original items and it takes a lot of time to even understand all items and more to build and get each one working. Tons of fun if you have 2-3 friends.

Through all the differences it is still perfection.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Memfisto

Level 7

6152 ARP

Trmptonfire said: I think LoL will stay at the top because it is free and you can play a quick game and then stop. This targets a wider range of people that don't want to have to invest in a lot of time to a game like Guild Wars 2. That said I think GW2 will be pretty awesome and take up some of my time!!!

I agree. GW2 impressed me after beta weekends, but I'm not going to go into the release, wait for winter when the server will be stable (community, economic etc.). I am also sure there will be many who will leave the project after 4-6 months of play. For this reason, imo, "GW2 hitting the top 10 but not the top 5", as mentioned above.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Enginseer

Level 3

476 ARP

on first month maybe first but after will fall to 3rd and over time to 2nd i dont think anything will beat LoL and its free to play

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

stickher

Level 6

1034 ARP

I'd bet there would be more shooters on the list if the games were more varied, right now though they all just seem too similar to be playing more then one.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Satr33

Level 3

315 ARP

sugar

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Ogrewax

Level 6

1027 ARP

GW2 might hit the top 10. How exactly do they get these numbers? I am just curious. By the way I was reading the article and the numbers used for this list did not include the gameplay hours for WoW in Asia.

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Addice

Level 7

4867 ARP

nice

Hoo-Rah!

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post

Ohman

Level 5

920 ARP

Like most here are saying GW2 won't take LoL's #1 spot, I did try GW2 over the weekend and enjoyed it for a few hours, but Lol has the fanbase. If LoL comes out with a new map soon™ they will continue to be numero uno.

M17x R4 i7 7970 www.facebook.com/sizzackz

Posted Monday, July 23rd, 2012 Quote This Post