In June, the top seven games in the Top 20 Core PC Games were stable from the previous month. Riot’s League of Legends remained the perennial number one, with no title able to take its place since these rankings began. Mojang’s Minecraft and Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive kept Ranks 2 and 3, respectively, while Wargaming’s World of Tanks and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft were stable at Ranks 4 and 5. Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm continued its ascension, breaking the top 10 for the first time; the more casual-/team-friendly MOBA climbed three spots to take Rank 9 in June. HOTS wasn’t the only MOBA on the rise; Valve’s DotA 2 climbed one more spot to Rank 8, pushed by the hype surrounding The International set for August 2015, currently with a record-breaking prize pool of more than $15 million.
Other key takeaways:
- Valve on the Rise. Valve had a good month in June. Not only did CS:GO retain Rank 3, all its other titles in the rankings were on the rise. DotA 2 climbed one more spot to Rank 8, Garry’s Mod rose an impressive four places to Rank 13 and Team Fortress 2 rose two spots to Rank 18.
- A Blizzard Win Is Team Fortress 2′s rise really a nod to Blizzard As people anxiously await the release of Blizzard’s new game Overwatch, Team Fortress 2 is the closest alternative. If the anticipation of Overwatch is in fact driving people to play Team Fortress 2, this is truly a Blizzard win. Along with Heroes of the Storm gaining three spots in a crowded MOBA market, it seems there are good times ahead for Blizzard.
- GTA V Down, San Andreas Up. Grand Theft Auto V continued its decline while Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Multiplayer is climbing back up the rankings. After its strong debut in April, GTA V fell out of the top 10 in June, down three places to Rank 11. Perhaps players are returning to San Andreas, which rose three spots to Rank 12.
- The Witcher Breaks Top 20. As we predicted after its debut in May at Rank 21, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has managed to break the top 20. CD Projekt’s massive and sprawling open world RPG took Rank 16 in June.
- Diablo III Drop Out. Two game dropped out of the rankings in June: Robocraft and Diablo III. While Robocraft was on a gradual descent since April, Diablo III tumbled out of the top 20 from its Rank 11 position in May. With a big patch in the near future (now on the beta test realms), we expect Blizzard’s title will re-enter the top 20 in the near future.
PC Games Market Monitor
In line with our monthly Top 20 Core PC Games Rankings, we have developed a brand new service in collaboration with Overwolf. The PC Games Market Monitor provides a monthly overview of the performance, cross-over and churn for the Top 20 PC/MMO games, and covers more than 40 countries across Europe, North America and Latin America. The data is derived from Overwolf’s user base of close to 10 million PC gaming enthusiasts. Subscribers will receive a monthly report and dataset featuring the Top 20 PC games by unique players, game sessions and average session time. For a PC title of choice, the data will show cross-over engagement and churn. Month-on-month changes are quantified for each game in every country of choice, revealing, for instance, the impact of marketing campaigns or (esports) events.
A full product presentation with dummy data can be found on the product page.