Last year’s video game market saw the releases of new original games and a few excellent continuations. But these titles were not just available in shops, they were also shared millions of times in peer-to-peer networks! We did some number crunching and identified the games which were downloaded most, then we compiled a list for you of the most popular ones among P2P users worldwide. Read on to find out which were the top games released in 2017!
CAPCOM’S ‘RESIDENT EVIL 7: BIOHAZARD’ HAS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF DOWNLOADS IN P2P NETWORKS!
5.54 million P2P users downloaded, shared and played the survival horror video game “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard”, successfully defending its top spot against all other games last year. On January 24, the new “Resident Evil” was officially released and P2P activity started to increase slightly. Only one week later, file sharing activity opened up, peaking on January 31 with almost 266,000 P2P users downloading and sharing the horror game in a single day. Fans playing the horror story of “Resident Evil” mostly come from Russia, followed by Brazil, China, India and Italy. Other countries made it into the top 10 at the city level, including Istanbul (Turkey) and Minsk (Belarus) in spots 4 and 6, respectively.
In addition, "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard" was also rated positively as an ambitious horror game, like Polygon stated in a report about the top games of the year 2017:
"Resident Evil 7 isn’t only one of the best games in the storied, two-decade-old series, but a confident new entry in the survival horror landscape.", Polygon concluded on December 11.*
‘PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2018’ IS THE REAL WINNER OF THE YEAR
“Sniper Elite 4” landed in second place after being downloaded by nearly 4 million P2P users excited to play the next installment in the first-person shooter series. Close behind, “Pro Evolution Soccer 2018” was ranked third best with 3.9 million file sharers! In almost three months it was downloaded almost as many times as “Sniper Elite 4” was within 11 months. However, if we take into account how long these games were on the charts, their actual popularity levels become clear – the two top spot holders were released way back in January and February, while “Pro Evolution Soccer 2018” was released in September, yet it has already been downloaded by almost 4 million P2P users around the world!
‘FIFA 18’ AMONG TOP GAMES 2017 AFTER ONLY 3 MONTHS
The latest title in the FIFA series, ”FIFA 18”, checked into the top rankings of the year with nearly 3.14 million P2P users, ensuring it spot No. 4. Just like “Pro Evolution Soccer 2018”, EA’s “FIFA 18” was also released at the end of September. The total number of downloads and shares aside, this factor clearly signals the rising popularity of new sports titles in the past year.
RPGS, SHOOTERS AND SIMULATORS AMONG TOP GAMES 2017
The warfare shooter “Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3” was officially released on April 24. Nearly 2.9 million P2P users downloaded and shared the game, pushing it into spot 5 of the top games of 2017!
The RPG-shooter “Mass Effect: Andromeda” hit shelves on March 21, and, 2.75 million file sharers later, it landed in spot 6 of the top games of 2017.
Right behind the epic space story of “Mass Effect: Andromeda,” and with almost zero space between them, “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands” came in at No. 7. Released on March 7, the adventure-shooter managed to attract 2.74 million P2P users in 2017.
File sharers in 2017 also seemed to prefer playing simulators. For example, “Car Mechanic Simulator 2018”, with 2.70 million players simulating the building and expanding of their own repair services, made it to spot 8 of the top games of 2017!
Meanwhile, ninth place was occupied by another simulator-adventure, “theHunter: Call of the Wild”. Engaging 2.48 million players via P2P file sharing worldwide, it was honored among the best games of 2017.
FILE SHARERS PUSH MACHINEGAMES’ ‘WOLFENSTEIN II: THE NEW COLOSSUS’ INTO THE TOP RANKS
Last but not least, the World War II series “Wolfenstein” released a new title this past year: “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus!” The new “Wolfenstein” sends players on a trip to America to fight against the prevailing Nazis and recruit the boldest resistance leaders left alive!
Although it was released fairly recently on October 27, MachineGames’ highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed “Wolfenstein: The New Order” managed to make it into the ranks of the world’s top games! On its official release date, almost 95,000 P2P users downloaded and shared the game worldwide, most of them from Russia, Ukraine, India, China and the United States. As of December 31, “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus” attracted 2.45 million file sharers, earning it the tenth spot among the top games of 2017. Besides file sharing statistics, "Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus" is often characterized by a very brutal story. Nevertheless, it earned several good critics:
"Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is a fantastic single-player shooter, but what really got me invested was the brilliantly written characters and the performances of its cast." - IGN reported in a verdict about the first-person shooter on October 27.*
"It really is amazing that a big budget game like this got made at all. Thank goodness MachineGames got the chance – it’s one of this decade’s best." - The Telegraph wrote in a game critic on October 30.**
There were other successful titles, however, that ranked as last year’s bestsellers, but were not shared enough to enter the top of the P2P file sharing charts. For example, “Call of Duty: WWII” and the Nintendo Switch title “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” only managed to reach spots 11 and 19 among the top games of 2017, respectively.
Would you like to stay informed with the most up-to-date developments of the top games of 2017, as well as other titles being shared in P2P networks? Follow us on LinkedIn and you’ll never miss a thing!
Source: TECXIPIO
Definition: The rankings are based on the number of unique file sharers: How many peers (file sharers) shared at least one file of the respective top game in 2017?
Further Sources
* https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/11/16761532/resident-evil-7-best-games-2017
** http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/10/28/wolfenstein-2-the-new-colossus-review
*** http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gaming/reviews/wolfenstein-2-new-colossus-review-one-decades-best/