One of the frustrations we always have when reporting on playerbase size in the MMO industry is that the console market is way more opaque than the PC market. Sure, it’s hard to get a specific body count on playerbases without some kind of confirmation from the companies involved – and even the most honest of those will include a level of irritating obfuscation like “lifetime registered players” or “monthly active users across all games” or some such – but at least we can usually go to Steam Charts and Twitch and eyeball how many people are really logging in and following the game. But then you’ll get the devs who say most of their players are actually on console. You know, the whole “Steam doesn’t tell the whole story” thing. Like I said – it’s a frustration.
I’m not sure that the latest PlayStation blog piece breaking down the most-downloaded titles of 2019 is going to clear everything up, especially since many of the titles listed are also the same ones you see on revenue charts every month and won’t come as a surprise, but hey, more data, we’ll take ’em.
Interestingly, the lists are different in the North American and European markets, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare coming in at the top spot for North America but only fourth on the EU charts. Europeans clearly prefer their shooty-shooty-bang-bangs more anarchic since Grand Theft Auto V came out on top (but Modern Warfare came in fourth). There are only a handful more MMO-adjacent titles on the list – primarily the North American list – including Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Division 2.
Also worth a look is the most-downloaded list for free-to-play titles, where Apex Legends bested Fortnite in both regions, most likely because Apex was brand-new in 2019. Warframe, Dauntless, and H1Z1: Battle Royale (yep) also made the top 10. Don’t worry too much for Fortnite, however; it completely swept the top 10 list for DLC downloads. Gotta get those dances and backpacks, kids.
