Once again, Raptr brings us a look at the most-played PC games of the month, with the data derived from Raptr’s over 20 million members. One thing is abundantly clear: If you want to boost play time, new content is a proven winner for successful games.
Raptr’s Analysis:
The year ended on a positive note, with nearly all titles in the top 20 increasing play time — though overall time was up a modest 4.84 percent from November to December.
Highlights
League of Legends closed out 2014 in the top spot once again, up 30.09 percent in play time compared to November. Contributing factors included a big preseason patch, a “vault-clearing” Snowdown champions/skins sale, exclusive Summoner’s Rift icons, and a limited-time game mode called Legend of the Poro King.
World of Warcraft remained in second place in December. WoW was riding high on its Draenor expansion in November, and discounts along with holiday events continued the momentum and led to an impressive 9.94 percent boost in December.
Even though the Frostivus holiday event was canceled this year, DOTA 2 play time climbed 27.92 percent versus November. The mid-month Shifting Snows update was relatively minor, yet gameplay spiked significantly around launch.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive had a 60.64 percent surge in December, thanks in part to a sale on Counter-Strike Complete (which includes several CS titles) and the reintroduction of the classic Train map, which was free for all CS: GO players.
Smite‘s play time was up 21.45 percent compared to November. The MOBA introduced a new god in mid-December, but it was a limited-time bonus and all-gods-available-for-play event that saw game time peak at the end of the month.
December was Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s first full month on sale, and play time has held strong after its mid-November launch. Total monthly hours were up 114.29 percent.
Hearthstone‘s Goblins Vs. Gnomes expansion helped to move the game up two places in December’s Most Played, thanks to a 63.19 percent play-time surge.
World of Tanks and Battlefield 4 both rose in top 20 rankings as well as play time. World of Tanks (26.11 percent increase) moved up three spots thanks to Update 9.5, holiday events, and WGLNA Season 5 matches, which players could watch from the game launcher. Battlefield (24.38 percent) moved up a rank to close out the top ten.
ArcheAge and Diablo III were the only titles in the top 20 to lose play time in December. ArcheAge was down 22.15 percent, and Diablo lost 9.19 percent.
December was good for Warframe as it gained 62.4 percent play time compared to November. Archwing add-ons, new Prime Access, and holiday bundles were major contributing factors.
Star Wars: The Old Republic released Shadow of Revan in December and saw a 33.35 percent play time bump. The game remained in 14th place, however.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, FIFA 15, and ArmA III all made a return into the top 20 for December. Skyrim, which soared six ranks, gained 78.25 percent play time. A major discount to the Legendary Edition of the game was the main factor in its return. In-game holiday sales and discounts to the title brought FIFA 15 back into the top 20 with a 50.34 percent increase. ArmA III returned to the top 20 with a 47.15 percentincrease thanks to sales.
Note: The Share number by each game represents that title’s gameplay time as a percentage of the total time spent on all the PC games played by Raptr members, and is useful for comparing the relative amount of play time between particular games.
