To help round off the year, PlayStation has put together an interactive map of the world that shows the most played PS5 and PS4 games of 2023 in a bunch of different countries. A nice idea, we're sure you'll agree, but the results are every bit as boring as you'd expect.
Going by these lists, you'd think 2023's insanely good release schedule never happened. In most of the selected regions — including the UK, Ireland, and much of central Europe — the most played games are as follows: Fortnite, an unspecified 'Call of Duty', and FIFA 23 (we assume that's because of EA Sports FC 24's September release date). In the US, Canada, and South America, the footy sim is replaced by Grand Theft Auto V. Shocker, although Argentina apparently loves a bit of Rocket League.
The only countries to really shake things up are South Korea and Japan. Diablo 4 topped South Korea's list with Elden Ring ranking third, while Japan went all-in on Apex Legends and Genshin Impact. Finally, some degree of variety!
Dare we ask what your most played games of 2023 were? Admit that you spent 5,000 hours playing Fortnite in the comments section below.
[source playstation.com]
Comments 85
For me personally it's definitely a combination of FIFA 23 / EA Sports FC 24
I guess I'm part of the problem 😂
No surprise at all ...... f2p Live service model rules, no wonder why Sony go all in with lots of Live service titles.....
Really shows you why Sony is trying to get some successful live service titles of their own.
No surprise that when based on total hours played it’s ALL live service games. But that’s just one metric
Quake 2 remastered, baby! Never played it back in the day, but it’s a twitchy blast.
This is why Sony doesn't want to lose CoD. It's what the masses play all the time, forever.
1. Bannerlord - would have taken the top period if their online wasn’t crap.
2. Mordhau
3. Apex
4. Fortnite
South Koreans got better taste in games than rest of the world
Same stuff, different year as they say.
But I spent a majority of my gaming time in Splatoon 3 this year.
No surprise here in my Japanese household. My son’s playtime is 90% Apex Legends or Genshin Impact. Although recently he’s been playing The Finals a lot
I can say I proudly played zero live service games in 2023.
Sadly due to lack of funds I'm still waiting for a sale on some of the years big heavyweights, so basically just doing a load of old classics for the time being - however, over the last few months I've managed to pick up Hogwarts Legacy, Aliens Dark Descent and Quake 2; so we're getting there slowly but surely 🙂
For me it's been The Witcher 3, Zelda TotK, Final Fantasy XVI, BG3, now Hogwarts Legacy, and unfortunately Fifa/FC scattered between and other smaller titles, but I'm avoiding EA a lot more successfully due to the very good releases this year, and the Witcher 3 PS5 patch.
There is literally nothing that makes someone more depressive than the mainstream. In every way, everywhere.
My top 5 most played 2023:
Halo Infinite 140+hrs
Starfield 120+hrs
Diablo IV 75+hrs
Pokemon Arceus 70+hrs
Street Fighter 6 60+hrs
I know I contributed to over 200 hours to Fortnite. So that would have helped lol.
I'm like the 0.0 -1% playing frogger on the PS1, it's better then all games today 😂 (/s)
There’s one thing. A lot and I mean a lot were trying to claim every ps5 sold in Japan was for scalpers/China as they bought little software.
The fact the top games played over in Japan were f2p stuff should show the above wasn’t overly the case
Doesn’t surprise me with the droids we are producing these days… people who just do what everyone else is doing and not taking the initiative!. Try something different morons lol
Can't believe Bratz Flaunt Your Fashion ain't at the top of most played. Such an incredible game with so much depth. Highly recommend
Shoutout to South Korea for Elden Ring and Diablo IV.
My most played games this year was hogwarts,diablo 4,lies of p and lords of the fallen. There were no other games that kept me interested as much as those did.
The games that top are easy to play and have infinite loops. So no surprise there.
My back catalog ruled this year. I finally got around to checking out Fallout 4, my first Fallout experience, and ended up sinking 343 hours into it. That's a lot for me, I usually move on before that many hours. Followed by Immortals: Fenyx Rising at 160 and Death Stranding Director's Cut at 126
My most played are Hogwarts Legacy, Resi's 4 and Village. Oh and a little bit of Dead Space.
1) The Witcher 3 Enhanced edition166 hours
2) Baldurs Gate 3 164 hours
3) Anno 1800 103 hours
4) Gran Turismo 7 100 hours
5) Cyberpunk 2077 93 hours
Much more respectable I think. Can't understand the FIFA/Shooter mentality.
Also played Alan Wake 2, God of War Ragnarok, Teardown, Control, The Expanse, Hogwarts, Alan Wake Remastered, Two Point Campus, The Expanse and a few others this year. It has been awesome.
Absolutely love that title lol
Good work PushSquare on creating a lightning rod for people to feel smug, it's made for an amusing comment section.
Hmmm…according to my ‘year end wrap up.’
MLB 22
GTA 5
Dead Space remake
RE4 remake
Last Of Us Pt. 1
This is why the gaming industry is what it is.
For me, TotK was, by far, my most played game with Starfield in second and Final Fantasy XVI in third. Ironically enough, I didn’t even really like Starfield much and I do wonder if my play count was so high because I fell asleep playing it a few times.
I am single player gamer, never understood live service games and f2p with micro transactions, maybe I am too old.
My top 5 according to wrap up was Elden Ring, GT7, FF XVI, Hogwarts and Jedi Survivor. But I had an amazing time with Sea of Stars and Tinykin. Definitely try them if you haven't already and are into indie games.
@RockLoi I don't see anybody being smug in the comments here. Stop trolling.
@ATaco I've got two friends that just play that, hours and hours of COD and yeah, they're having fun but damn, there's so much else to play.
@Northern_munkey You must be reading different comments then, or more likely reading them differently.
Midnight Suns, Hogwarts and Baldur’s Gate. I’m sure Baldur’s will get a lot of early 2024 play.
@RockLoi I honestly can not see any smug comments. It's not the sort of poll that would warrant any smugness anyway as its about what's being played the most in different regions. Some comments are about not liking the live service or free to play models but that is not being smug. That's called having an opinion which I do believe they are allowed to have.
@Northern_munkey I happen to think denigrating popular/mainstream media is snobbery even if I agree with it, and indulging in conversation on it by discussing what is "respectable" is smug. You don't have to agree (as you say it's another opinion one is "allowed" to have), but that doesn't make me a troll.
@dimi Absolutely. Quality games. Not just the same old games
@RockLoi let's agree to disagree on this as its just going to go back and forth and ultimately resolve nothing.
@Northern_munkey Yes exactly, so we're back to where we were before you commented at all. Thanks.
@RockLoi 👍
@Americansamurai1 "Really shows you why Sony is trying to get some successful live service titles of their own."
Well that's already collapsing on itself, the live service game that had a popularity advantage and best chance to succeed was tlou.
Also let's not forget Sony started the generation with a live service game that bombed so bad it was dead by release date and Sony was giving it away begging people to download it. Hello Destruction AllStars 👀
None of the above for me. GOW, Resi 4, Persona 5, Mass Effect and Witcher 3 again, F1, and an OLED Steam deck for Christmas as I graduate from consoles. 😂 PS5 still great mind.
The game I played most was likely Diablo IV and then Battlefield 2042. Beyond that, I’m not really sure. Not many games really captured my attention this year. I’m trying to get into Resident Evil 4 because it’s now got VR2 playability, but when I tried it in VR I got motion sick pretty quick, so now I’m just playing through it with a controller. I’m sure I’ll give it a few more tries in VR, though.
My most played was Street Fighter 6 followed by Honkai Star Rail. Still it does remind you how difficult it is to really stand out in the industry these days in terms of player engagement. Everyone pretty much has their evergreen game at this point which is why it's so difficult to break into the live service model.
I don't think this often unchanging data is indicative of the gaming industry as a whole and in my opinion should be considered a separate or subset of the market.
I don't simply say this because I think games like fortnite or Sports titles or other free to play schemes are not profitable and adopted by many, nor do I think these are actual good games or even part of gaming at all. I say this because I have a number of people in my extended family as well as my partners who only play fortnite or they only play Apex Legends or they only play some stupid soccer game. they do not dabble in any other games whatsoever they don't buy them they don't show interest in them they are just into the addiction based model they fell into period, That's it. I have seen countless people that do only fortnite, that's all they play. Maybe Roblox when they were younger and then it goes straight into fortnite. so they are not actively participating in any other aspect of the gaming industry. I think this overshadows those that play several games a year if not dozens and actively participate in The Gaming Community discourse blah blah blah.
So while these numbers are not surprising I think it would be nice to know what the data reads like if you eliminate those that play just one live service games or at least those that only play Live service games or even less than two games a year total.
I think that we would see quite a big difference in what the data would show if we eliminated the above population and would likely result in a lot more diversity of what's played. In turn the corporate Schills, would have some data points on maybe some other stuff people like worthy of investment aside from them trying to chase these giant money making schemes when really only a real small handful of them have become successful long term.
Such a shame that general players aren't trying out some of the great games available
My most played game was GT7 (129hrs), closely followed by RDR2 (123hrs), then Uncharted 4 (about 60hrs). But I don't 'rush' my games, especially RDR2 and Uncharted, I like to explore and take my time..
@TooManyBrownies - Was literally in the process of saying this , but yeah, these numbers become less ‘revealing’ when you realise it’s like trying to compare film and tv viewership by overall runtime.
Monster Hunter Rise
Pubg
Starfield
Vampire Survivors
Diablo 4
The games I played the most this year are: Horizon Forbidden West, Spider Man Miles Morales, AC Valhalla, Final Fantasy VII Retrograde, and Final Fantasy XVI. All great games. Next on my list to play: Cyberpunk, Spider-Man 2, AC Mirage, Star Wars Jedi Survivor and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. PS5 is so awesome!
@Juanalf yeah I completely agree.really though tlous of would be the one to succeed with the success of the first two games and the TV series. Really curious to see if anyone of the live service will be successful. 2024 we know of helldivers2 and Concord, out of those two even though we haven't seen gameplay I think Concord will be the more successful one. This leaves 4 more before the end of 2026 I believe.
You cannot deny the multiplayer aspect.
In EA FC, people come over to play with you. Your friends actually bother visiting you. In between, you play to get better, so that you thrash your friends.
//Captain Obvious, I know.
With Call of Duty, it is our lizard brain that wants to dominate other males that kick in . You only play in groups if it heightens your odds. Friends leave friends behind if they aren't good. It is a toxic wasteland of masculinity.
Genshin Impact is my most played by far, but I did find time to platinum Hogwarts Legacy, finish Final Fantasy XVI, and run through Jedi Survivor with a little FF7 Remake sprinkled in. My son and I replayed It Takes Two as the opposite characters and played quite a bit of 2K Drive. And finally I watched him platinum Spider-Man 2.
@RockLoi So basically if you don't like all the popular mindless slop, you're smug? Okay, guess I'm smug then. Yes, I think the games I play are better, ergo the way I spend my time is better. Apparently this run of the mill statement is very entertaining to you, so enjoy.
That's a sad 😔 list
@guntam Yes I think calling what's popular "mindless slop" is being pretty smug. I'm glad you can rise above the brainless masses.
And yes, your reply is the epitome of what I was talking about, super-satisfying to read thank you.
FIFA soccer on every top 3 list besides US, Canada, Japan and New Zealand. (no other sports titles appear on any region top 3)
GTA 5 still in top 3 just about everywhere, even being 10 years old now.
Interesting.
the "unspecified" call of duty is the current "Call of Duty HQ" application... Which, right now... includes MWII, MWIII, Warzone (2.0) & DMZ
@Lorcan Tyria is a nice place to be.
2023 is the year I got my Skyscale. Still a bit behind on the story content though as I’m working through it all in sequence.
@RockLoi I do indeed try to rise above the brainless masses, thanks.
@guntam If you're happy and proud of it then it's odd that you would take umbrage at your self-confessed sense of superiority being called smug.
Haven't played much games this year. Judgement, Burning Shores, Spider-man 2 and most recently Narita Boy. All great games. Hopefully I will get some more played in 2024!
@MightyDemon82 I tried Narita Boy a little while ago but couldn't get into it, the controls felt so clunky. Does it get better with an expanded moveset or does it largely play the same throughout?
For me it was full on rocket league, then GTA online.
What this shows me is Sony makes lots of gloomy 3rd person open world games, and a lot of its audience wants something else.
It wouldn’t hurt to make some fun colourful games every so often.
This is why Sony need a few live service games of their own.
@RockLoi Definitely improves with the full moveset. You get uppercut which doubles as double jump. Dash through and shoulderbash enemies is also handy for avoiding attacks!
Despite the loud noises from gamers everywhere, we need to accept that the majority spend a lot of time on these f2p games. Once a live service game stuck, it became a gold mine. Personally, I prefer games like FF16, Spiderman 2, but with development cost it is only a bombed game away from bankrupcy for most developers, hence they need a backup successful f2p game, but again the market is saturated. I wish foamstars becomes successful.
The entire Trails of Cold Steel series.
I'm SP player only and love to play and explore new games, therefore I will never understand these statistics and why these live service games are so popular, but totally respect players who like these games from whatever reason...
This year I made a personal record because 1st time ever I spent 100+ hours on one game, my list is:
1. Elden Ring 170hrs
2. Bloodborne 40hrs (2nd run and just started DLC), BB is now my 2nd game after ER I spent 100+ hours in the game
3. RE4 remake 30hrs (only started DLC)
Next year I plan to play FF16, RE Village (2nd run in 3rd person), Lies of P, hopefully Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, really awaiting Silent Hill 2 remake but have doubts if Bloober will do their best here so will wait for reviews first...
I only hope that Sony will never forget SP games are still very important for a lot of PS gamers (myself included) and will still let their studios working on them. I get that they need some successful live service title on their own, but let's avoid what happened to ND who lost years working on Factions2 and cancelled that project in the end to finally find out that they want to stick with SP games after all...ridiculous but I'm not laughing at all
i seriously can’t understand how people still enjoy COD in 2023 other than it having no competition in the fps multiplayer run & gun department. if you’re from the classic era cod on ps3 , COD is boring and stale af now . every game released on ps4/ps5 is garbage compared to ps3 & the campaigns are just filler.
Am I the only feel like I'm having a stroke reading the title of this article? I've read it 5x and till don't know what it is trying to say.
Not surprised, brand names, comfortable/consistency for many people. What else is new. Casuals will play whatever annual game, whatever trending game that's been around for years with continuous updates.
Like with certain long running tv shows, music artists, anime, whatever (anime casuals same thing whatever in a certain realm they never branch out past hit shounen or Gibhli (I mean same can be said for western animation movie studios too unless another pops up out of nowhere that's good) and us deeper gamers/anime fans go whelp we will go further and have nothing to talk about with these surface level people).
People get comfortable. Spend money on tons of stuff but upgrading consoles, or moving on from other games, or just socialising because games are to waste time not a deeper hobby like for many of us with shelves/digital libraries full of games. Their hobbies and interests are limited than us that go all out on many corners of entertainment media it's why getting 1 to stick is so hard for businesses sometimes I guess. So us hardcore are the ones helping them out, noticing Indies the most.
Unless something is put in someone's face of something new and them being open to it you get round ups like this with any medium.
Not a bad thing but some games lasting in such a way or the next purchase do make some years I assume for them blend together (unless the updates were memorable) or just kind of samey. Or they just go outside so much and socialise and have fun with the few things they have repeated until the next one in said annual/next update/next song/next tv show season.
Even as a gamer (that isn't only current things coming out/releasing) I do have to go oh yeah that came out in 2020-2023 as I just forget.
Not because I'm on PS4 still and do research of what is on current gen only for one but also just what came out as I am so focused on anything retro or certain old games part of the PS4/Xbox One/Wii U gen to think about current stuff unless it's articles.
As someone that like many other gamers/collectors buys retro games, or plays those a few years old on a platform or whatever current year games.
Yeah while this year wasn't good in my experience for big games I didn't play or care about and those big I did (that disappointed)/AAs and Indies that were average of 2023 yeah (besides the older games as well)....... I got by this year with many retro purchases this year having more fun because 2023 kinda sucked for game releases I looked at, but didn't for many other people.
Even my year wrap up was what Disgaea 5, Conception Plus (a PSP game remastered), Ride 3, Infamous Second Son & Diofield if just talking PS4 games I played the most (even if probably 1/5 what I bought this year maybe and 1/3 what I bought for PS4 in 2023 probably) it counts, no Vita, no PS5 (because I don't play on PS5s I have access to/care for one).
All a few years old even besides my Switch, Xbox One and of course PS2/360/PS3/OG Xbox/Wii/PSP and DS games of this year.
I played Eragon on PS2, for New Years morning, what a very unique year to start out.
I enjoy licensed game searching, shovelware and most importantly, niche games with great fresh left behind mechanics of 5th-7th gen and digging history wise into 1st to 4th gen.
But yeah JRPGs, racing, the odd Infamous/Order 1886 to beat them, not trophy wise I mean, so older first party as not interested in current first party, some AAs of Wanted Dead, Indies of Clive n Wrench, Outbound Ghost, Gravity Tricker's demo was fun of some Kula World on PS1 but modern.
2021/2022 Square Enix releases besides whatever Switch experiences of Pikmin 1&2 and Bayonetta Origins for Christmas and enjoying, Pikmin 4 I hated, Wreckfest was good, 360/OG Xbox on Xbox One and that's it. Besides retro on other platforms. What a year.
FFXIV, always FFXIV, but I think I put more time into the Legend of Heroes series than FFXIV, so that's a thing. Finished both the Liberl and Crossbell arcs this year. Plan on starting the Erebonian arc sometime next year after I get caught up on the FFVII remake stuff.
I'm a Blood Bowl player and this year I spent 400 hours on Blood Bowl 3. Besides that, it's Cyberpunk and Elden Ring.
Just like last year Gran Turismo 7 was my most played game. The new stuff they added to it this year was just too good!
Sad truth is these games will be the first to go independent of platforms and be playable straight from TVs eventually, leaving a huge whole in the market. This will accelerate the end of platforms as we know it, which was inevitable I suppose, once game streaming reaches an acceptable level anyway.
I'm sure there will always be passionate studios and designers that will continue making interesting games. I just hope they manage to get enough exposure when they make something fun.
2023 was hands down the worst year for gaming, honestly no idea why some thought it was good, we either had exceptionally bad incremental updates to existing IPs (Spiderman 2, FFXVI, Street Fighter VI, MK1, Alan Wake 2) or we had terrible new IPs (Starfield, Forspoken, Callisto Protocol 2022 I know, but December so realistically it was 2023 for everyone, Atomic Heart, Redfall)
The only ones I came across that were worth my time were Hogwarts, Robocop and Hifi Rush.
Everything has been paint by numbers bland, terribly written and full of bugs.
I bought them all, as well as countless others and this year is on a par with 1982 when I got E.T. on the Atari for Christmas.
@RockLoi That is indeed odd! So perhaps the conclusion is that I didn't "take umbrage" then and that you've poorly analysed the exchange?
@guntam Indeed I must have poorly analysed because I believed your first comment to be contentious. Glad to see we're on the same page.
People have got to understand, the majority of people that own consoles only play a small subset of games. Software attach rate is usually fairly low in comparison to the total library of a system. And live service drives it lower as you can just play one game until the ens of life of a system. That is partly why devs that need a lot of money have shrunk their output to known sellers (with publisher push) and partly why companies are obsessed with micro transactions. They don’t make that money back otherwise. This list doesn’t surprise me at all.
I played COD: Warzone mode for over 500 hours and FIFA23/EAFC24 for over 800 hours but my most enjoyable fix was the replay-ability of Slay The Spire which I spent around 150 hours on.
According to my 2023 PS Wrap-Up, I spent 378 hours on my PS5 this past year (which I think is one of my highest playing time years ever), with 169 hours (45%) in Horizon Forbidden West, and then about 100 in Returnal (still trying to finish that!) with the majority of the remainder taken by Death Stranding Director’s Cut.
I’m too old to be able to switch between multiple games at once anymore lol, my brain and fingers can’t keep up with differences in controls to make any decent headway especially later in large titles 🤪 so I usually stick with one until I’m done. (I’m also old enough to have literally never played Fortnite, Minecraft, and their ilk either!)
Also, semi-honest question… how do regular people manage to play 800+ hours in a year? Do they just… not have jobs/partners/families or something?!? 😹
There's a reason why game studios are trying to get into Live Service games now, the amount of money Fortnite makes globally with the amount of players gaming annually is a crazy number I am sure. GTA is somewhat in this mix because of GTA online. Wow.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...