Due to my interests and work tasks, I periodically monitor charts of the popularity of computer games in relation to our country. And during the next reading, I summed up the results, I caught myself thinking: is it possible to somehow collect a vertical cross-section of the most popular projects of recent years in different countries?
Given my limited research, you may want to look below and be surprised at some of the positions.
When preparing the material, I used exactly three sources: the VGChartz and statista sites, as well as a persistent survey of my comrades who live abroad.
F2P projects and MMO games were deliberately excluded from the study. Only the premium segment and all platforms.
1. Call of Duty series
🌍 Where is it popular: USA
It is worth understanding that the USA is the cradle of the culture of console online shooters.
It all started with Halo and Xbox Original/360, and the Call of Duty series continues on PlayStation. Games in this series are sold most of all in the USA.
Why is this so? But because the solution does not have normal originals. Call of Duty is a monopolist in the online arcade shooter market. All competitors carefully broke off their teeth. And no matter how poorly, according to critics, the part came out, it will still sell in huge numbers and bear the status of the main shooter in the industry.
The main shooter of the fall is out! Review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, was it a hit or another failure
You can, of course, refer to the fact that free Warzone exists, but statistics say the opposite – paid multiplayer will not increase popularity, and sales will not fall even if the last two parts are available in the Xbox Game Pass subscription.
2. GTA V.
🌍 Where is it popular: UK
I can’t understand why, but the fifth part of the classic Grand Theft Auto continues to use the services. It is actively purchased and included in PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
Let me remind you that the game is already 11 years old, and it has gone through three re-releases for different platforms.
If you delve deeper into the category of such stable sales growth, they become obvious. Firstly, GTA Online is still very popular in the UK (and around the world, lucky me, I can’t understand why everyone likes it so much). The mode is constantly updated, with new content regularly added to keep players interested.
Secondly, a re-release for a new platform. GTA V has several versions: the original, no longer current version for PS3 and Xbox 360, the version for PS4 and Xbox One, which has recently become a thing of the past, the long-awaited PC version (which recently received an improvement from the next-gen version) and the . for modern consoles with improvements. With the release of each of them, sales were high, and this level continues to this day.
I am sure that the situation is changing with the release of GTA 6, but it is possible to demonstrate the anomalous success of the “five” – this is an open question.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
🌍 Where they are popular: North America and all of Europe.
Second in the list of “long-livers” of the market.
The best project in its genre, released almost at the dawn of the life cycle of the Nintendo Switch (I’m lying a little here – the original MK 8 was released on Wii U, but there was significantly less content) and has not influenced the interest of players until now.
Strictly speaking, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Nintendo’s best-selling game in the company’s history. In total, 61.7 million copies were sold. What is the reason for this success? Maybe constant support in the form of seasons, passes, cosmetics and attributes of modern gaming services? No. There is nothing like that in the game at all, with the exception of periodically released paid packages with tracks and characters.
The main feature of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the online mode. It also practically lacks all the elements of modern gaming services, only the purest and most concentrated gameplay that is addictive.
There is a lot of room for developing your extreme skills, there are very, very many players who test your skills, the most brutal and accessible ones. If you have a Nintendo Switch, for example, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of those promising projects that is worth using a non-flashed console and paying for online.
Hogwarts Legacy
🌍 Where is it popular: the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Belgium, Great Britain.
The success of Hogwarts Legacy is primarily due to its unique reverse advertising. Even before the release of the project, journalists from popular Western publications were openly bullied and mixed up with dirt.
There are a lot of reasons, but the main point lies in JK Rowling. Gamers have rendered a verdict: the game depends on his time and money.
As you can see, there was an explosive growth in sales at the start of the project and gradual oblivion over time, but the game sold and still ranks first in the charts. At the end of 2023, circulation worldwide exceeded 22 million copies.
And if you look at the sales statistics now, you can see that in Europe the games are popular and at the moment the sales figures are 30 million copies, despite the fact that the games did not have any major updates or DLC.
FIFA/EA Sports FC
🌍 Where is it popular: the whole world in general and the UK in particular
And finally, I would like to mention the most popular game in the world.
You can argue for a long time about which game is better, but the fact remains: FIFA, or rather now EA Sports FC (legal difficulties forced them to change the name), is loved and attractive all over the world, and not only here in Russia.
FIFA games have always sold best in the UK (a country known for its exceptional love of football and, in fact, the birthplace of the phenomenon called Okolofootball), the country also provides the largest flow of microtransactions. However, the second most popular country for the project was the United States.
In September 2024, EA Sports FC 25 became the best-selling game in the United States. According to Circana, a consumer market research company, this is the third month in a row that FC 25 has been the top seller.
The carving is vertical, but not final
It’s worth mentioning right away that above I gave only the top examples based on market analysis. Obviously, the selection is not limited only to the names of creatures.
When it comes to selling frequently used building games and other recent games, The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom is best to start in Europe, where the Nintendo Switch can generally be considered one of the best performing platforms on the market.
Also, I did not take the Eastern segment of the gaming market – it is worthy of study in a separate article. My main goal was to show that the most popular models are often called models in general and, in particular, due to random factors (as in the case of Hogwarts). I hope you enjoyed reading this material and also wondering how I should write it.
By the way, the next step is to make a selection of popular games in Russia. Write in the comments what you play most often and on what platform.
Have a good day!
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
