In our last analysis of file sharing activity for the top 3 games of 2017 so far, we saw a gradual decline last month and learned how fan bases are distributed by country.
The United States has the second largest gaming industry1 in terms of revenue and the fifth largest in terms of the number of file sharers for games overall. For this last bit, we counted an average of 130,112 daily file sharers since the beginning of 2017. By comparison, the daily average for Russia was nearly 11 times higher, with 1,433,370 daily P2P users sharing video games. That said, we’re going to dig a bit deeper into the U.S. file sharing statistics for the world’s most popular games: “The Sims 4”, “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” and “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive”.
HOW DO THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR GAMES PERFORM STATESIDE
If we hold up the United States’ file sharing data to Russia’s, you might think, wow, those numbers are pretty low when compared to the numbers cranked out by the stronghold! Daily file sharing activity in Russia was significantly higher for “The Sims 4”, “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” and “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” than in the United States (see bar chart). Nevertheless, “The Sims 4” was the most popular of all three games in the United States, showing a positive upward trend, especially during the latter half of May. The other global top 3 games dropped either down to lower ranks in the United States or out of the top 10 charts altogether. So what are the most popular video games in the U.S., you ask?
RPGS AND SIMULATORS AMONG U.S. GAMERS’ FAVORITES
Similar to current trends in Russia, we can see a huge demand in the United States for a variety of different game genres. The simulator “The Sims 4” was crowned at the top in both the worldwide and U.S. charts. But moving onto the following spots, we see that there are some very clear differences! According to the U.S. charts for 2017, “Waves” came in at spot 2 with 247,943 file sharers, followed by “Minecraft” at spot 3 with 201,849 P2P users. What stands out in particular is that file sharers in the United States were more likely than global file sharers overall to share RPGs, such as “Dark Souls III”, “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”, “Stardew Valley” or “Fallout 4”. Some of the top worldwide games didn’t even appear in the U.S. top 10 charts, including the entire “Counter-Strike” franchise, “Pro Evolution Soccer” (spot 11) and “Grand Theft Auto” (spot 14).
U.S. FILE SHARERS MORE INTERESTED IN RECENT RELEASES
The numbers show that file sharers in the United States are more up-to-date with the latest games, compared with worldwide sharers, who tend to prefer classics over the hottest new releases. That is, with the exception of the game that came in at #2 worldwide – “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” – which landed spot 10 in the U.S. and was the only game on the list that was originally released before 2011. More than half of the rest were released after 2015.
RUSSIAN GAMERS ARE NOT PICKY ABOUT THE TITLES THEY SHARE
Another interesting fact? In Russia, a file sharing stronghold, at least every second fan who was interested in one of the top 3 games had also shared the other two games. Almost 65% of Russian fans of “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive”, for example, have also shared “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”. That being said, Russian game addicts seem to have no discernable preference for genres. Or – put more flatteringly – they seem up for trying new stuff. They shared a wide range of different games, including almost every game listed in our top 10 list! Many other genre-diverse games not listed in the top 10, such as “Need for Speed: Most Wanted” or “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”, were also shared by around 40% of Russian file sharers who shared one of the three top games, which further underlines the open-mindedness of Russians file sharers– at least when it comes to games.
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 game between Jan - May 2017?
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