January 22nd 2013 1:24 pm PT

Top Games of 2012

After many days of number crunching, here are the top games for 2012 based on average Unique Users per day connected to Xbox LIVE or full versions purchased between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012.

Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles (based on average UU’s per day)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20		 Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Halo 4
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
Call of Duty: Black Ops
FIFA Soccer 13
FIFA Soccer 12
Battlefield 3
Halo: Reach
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Borderlands 2
Assassin’s Creed III
Skyrim
Madden NFL 13
Gears of War 3
NBA 2K13
NBA 2K12
Far Cry 3 
Grand Theft Auto IV
Forza Motorsport 4 

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20		 Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
Trials Evolution
The Walking Dead
Pinball FX2
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Castle Crashers
Gotham City Impostors
I Am Alive
Fruit Ninja Kinect
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD
Trials HD
Magic 2013
Fez
Dungeon Defenders
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
Peggle
The Simpsons Arcade Game
REAL STEEL
Toy Soldiers: Cold War
Full House Poker 
  The above list is based on full versions purchased.

Top Indie Games (Full Versions purchased)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20		 CastleMiner Z 
CastleMiner 
Total Miner: Forge
Avatar Deathmatch
FortressCraft Chapter 1
Murder Miners
The Impossible Game
Avatar Laser Wars 2
The $1 Zombie Game
Avatar Paintball
Avatar Legends
Fortress Wars
Miner Of Duty
Miner4Ever
Avatar Laser Wars
End Of Days: Infected vs Mercs 
Toy Stunt Bike 2
Flight Adventure 2
Don’t Die Dateless, Dummy!
Block World
  The above list is based on full versions purchased.

Games for Windows Top LIVE Titles (based on average UU’s per day)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20		 GTA IV
Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition
Age of Empires Online
Batman Arkham City
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition
Microsoft Flight
DiRT 3
F1 2011
Resident Evil 5
Fallout 3
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Fable III
Bioshock 2
Gotham City Impostors
Colin McRae : Dirt 2
Bulletstorm
Street Fighter X Tekken
Resident Evil Raccoon City
F1 2010
Street Fighter IV

These lists are based on global average unique users per day connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade and Indie Games, full versions purchased during 2012.

Some content may not be available in all Xbox LIVE regions (and therefore the links may not work.)

 

Top LIVE By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2013/01/22/top-games-of-2012/

  • http://twitter.com/doozerblake Blake Facey

    Interesting, 9 of the top 20 Indie games are Minecraft clones.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

      who cares if a game clones another game, if it’s good then it’s awesome. star wars battlefront was a battlefield clone but it was still one of the best game of last gen.

      • http://twitter.com/damashedavenger kit walker

        last i saw it was halo2 and sw:battlefront on top of the old xbox most played.
        4 halo’s later, i still cant believe they never made another battlefront.

    • http://www.salarymandaishi.net/ SalarymanDaishi

      …and 5 out of 20 are avatar games, which mostly makes one wonder who is (or will be) responsible of Avatar Miners.

    • http://www.facebook.com/mason.burningham.3 Mason Burningham

      Why bother being creative when you can make money of other people’s ideas?

  • http://twitter.com/Protege420 Protege

    YAY for trials evolution…..glad to see it doing well

  • http://twitter.com/BeauNidle Beau Nidle

    Is Minecraft the first XBLA title to make it into the “Top LIVE Titles” list??

    • Lee Thomas Rayson

      no, it happened quiet a few times over the years

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

      arcade games make it there all the time but minecraft has been there since launch. i’d say it has the best staying power.

  • Lee Thomas Rayson

    major think you could add most download arcade game,DLC and demo of 2012 was ?

  • http://www.facebook.com/573v35m17h Steve Smith

    Halo 4 recently sold 40 million copies and now it is losing to MW3. Interesting…

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

      halo 4 did NOT sell anywhere near 40million copies.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bush-O-Connor/555604190 Bush O Connor

      it sold 7.60m

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

    interesting, forza 4 dropped and forza horizon is gone completely. fifa 12 is right behind fifa 13. same with nba 2k. surprised far cry 3 is on the list, once you beat the game it isn’t worth playing anymore.

    • Jacob TheBaowzShow

      when the story is over u can always buy the dlc or take over some outposts

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

    it’s because it’s the only GTA game on xbox, and with the mods it’s kinda funny.

    • Martin

      I was posting it as it’s impressive so what If it’s the only game it is keeping players next to 5 years on.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Curtis-Isabell/1036013363 Curtis Isabell

        the fans left the game a long time ago, GTA IV was the most disappointing of the series, if 5 is good you will see a massive shift in people who play IV.

        • http://twitter.com/SeraphTC SeraphTC

          That’s utter nonsense. It’s sales certainly don’t support that, and neither do the reviews by critics or players. It’s one of the best in the series. If the ‘fans’ all left the game, who the heck is still playing it? People who don’t like it??

          • QuixoticRocket

            I’m not sure you can expect logic in most of the comments here.

          • Russell Gorall

            Same thing with Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber, just a lot of haters out there who don’t like great artistry.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bush-O-Connor/555604190 Bush O Connor

          i too was dissapointed with gta4 when it first came out, the player movement annoyed me so much.but i went back to it.one of the best games ever made.

          its like the godfather of the gaming world. playing it on pc the last year, great story and all, its like the good films hollywood dont any more

        • fsdfg dsfds

          Piss off , IV was the first game on 360 that felt next gen, its still more advanced then most game engines (like CoD)

          I been playing the game pretty much since its release, the euphoria physics and car damage is still yet to be beat,every dent and ding is unique and affect handling

          Renderware is so dated, the old GTA have nothing on IV

        • ryder4life22187

          they just need to end GTA it’s always the same game. Game died to me long ago once vice city came out no longer was fun.

  • ElektroDragon

    Castle Crashers: The game that refuses to die! Also, Minecraft is dreadfully boring.

    • Jacob TheBaowzShow

      with a bit of creativity its the best game ever

  • Sebastard

    Were is Fable The Journey?!?!?!?

  • http://twitter.com/ciprodriguez ciprodriguez

    Wow Skyrim is a FUN multiplayer game that I love to play online with my friends. Who’s with me?

    • BostonSup

      This list isn’t the top multiplayer games, this is the top played games. While connected to Xbox Live, you are a “Unique User” in whatever game you play, multiplayer or single player. Black Ops 2, for example, includes people who only played mulitplayer on any particular day and those who only played single player on that particular day. UU includes both Gold members and Silver members.

      The only thing that this list does take into account for are those who are not connected to XBL (via Gold or Silver), and play the game.

      • http://www.facebook.com/garrett.grr Garrett Grr

        Sorry sir, you are incorrect. It is multiplayer, on PC that is. There is a mod for it. Only reason I’m looking at a Xbox list is because of GFWL.

  • http://twitter.com/KiloOscarZulu KM

    These ranking look totally wrong. How can a game that was out for only 6 weeks of the year (BlOps2) have a higher average over the whole 366 days than MW3? Major, can you release the raw numbers and the formulas used, because I think your maths is totally wrong.

    • Jacob TheBaowzShow

      mw3 was a big let down, thats why people didnt really play it to much. and when theres a new game up from the cod franchise it gets very popular also bo2 is much better than mw3

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bush-O-Connor/555604190 Bush O Connor

    here’s some numbers for people taking from bf3 stats..bf3 is at number 8 here to give an idea…

    The strongest platform with over 4.4 million players recorded is PS3.
    Followed by XBOX360 with 3.6 million players and PC with 3.1 million
    players.
    these are for 2012

  • http://twitter.com/TreFacTor TreFacTor

    How about MS do something about the Modders on Grand Theft Auto IV #19 on the list, and the longest in the top 20 the last 5 years.

  • Dan Robinson

    How long has Castle Crashers been on the list? 5 years?

  • Russell Gorall

    Hard to take the list completely serious when Halo 4 is above Minecraft, and Minecraft came out in Spring.

    • IAmNotAMonster

      This list is based on unique users per day. As of December, Minecraft XBLA has sold 5 million copies (7 months after release.) Halo 4 sold 3.8 million copies in the first day, and now sits around 7-8 million, total. It’s reasonable to consider that a multiplayer-centric title like Halo 4 could consistently have a higher UU average per day in a shorter window than the gradual adoption of Minecraft. Don’t you think?

      • Russell Gorall

        Minecraft was released in Spring, has sold six million copies and Halo 4 has shipped about seven to eight… I fail to understand your logic. The window for Halo 4 to boost UU’s was less than two months. Minecraft had strong numbers for nearly seven months in 2012.

        As far as multiplayer based games, one may say Minecraft is actually the stronger title in that regard. Especially if you are the average Halo 4 owner, judging by current Live chart showings.

        Finish the Fight, already.

      • Russell Gorall

        I actually have to apologize, possibly. Is the Live chart just done on actual counts of total Gamertags playing a game during any given period? If that is the case, then the Live chart is basically a sales chart, with a slight emphasis on the need for a Live connection.

        Sorry if that is the case, I get crazy about this stuff.

  • Russell Gorall

    SIgned.

    • BlinkFandango

      Sweet! If it never gets fixed, I can always sell my Xbox games and get a Wii U when they release HD Zelda, HD Wind Waker, Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart.

  • http://twitter.com/HeyImSwat Daniel

    I call Bull**** on Halo 4 being on that list.

  • http://www.facebook.com/vinicius.imperialguerrilha Vinicius Grazianni

    cod mw3 the best game

    • TwitchyGuy

      Most sales/played = best game. Nice logic.

  • ryder4life22187

    that petition is a joke MS can and will set prices as they see fit. They wouldn’t have prices like that if people weren’t paying the money for it. Just because stores drop prices doesn’t mean they have to.

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