Though new releases are coming out daily, it's the titles that have been around for years that maintain the die-hard fans. Combined worldwide, millions of hours are spent weekly meeting up with our friends, grinding experience points, and defeating bosses. There's a reason you're still playing the same game with friends years later.
Most of us have awesome memories of starting out gaming through worlds like these. Whether it's in MMORPGs, first-person shooters, or sandbox survival, it's how many friends have been made. With hundreds of thousands of accounts, these are the games that have kept us coming back.
Updated June 28th, 2023, by Rosa Baumgartl: The gaming community is only growing, which means new incredible games are being released, and old favorites are coming back into the spotlight. Multiplayer games have always been the most popular, as most of us play to connect with friends, form new relationships, and bond over shared passions. Joining an already popular multiplayer is a great way to find your people, which is why we've added even more to this list.
13 PUBG: Battlegrounds
Released in July 2016, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a last-player-standing, Battle Royale style game. With up to three friends, you can parachute onto the island, scavenge for useful items and weapons, and fight to be the final player among 100. The name comes from the creator's gamer tag, Brendan 'PlayerUnknown' Greene, who had created a bunch of mods for previous games, which were then turned into this standalone game.
At its peak in July 2018, there were 3.2 million active players, which has dropped to 2.85 million per month as of July 2023. The player base has remained consistently active. With a ranked mode available and rotations of maps to keep things fresh, it doesn't look like PUBG will be unpopular any time soon.
12 Rocket League
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Rocket League is a super unique concept involving scoring giant balls into the enemy goal while driving rocket-powered toy cars. Being able to play with friends online or locally, as well as by yourself, has opened up the possibility of tournaments where teams can register to win prizes. The peak number of players was 42,000 in November 2022.
There are other game modes, such as basketball and ice-hockey-themed games. It's all free to play and can be downloaded from Epic Games; however, to keep it profitable, Psyonix has added in-game purchases in the form of loot crates and blueprints to spruce up your vehicles.
11 DOTA 2
The sequel to 'Defense of the Ancient,' DOTA 2 is a wildly popular MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game featuring two teams of five players, each controlling their own hero. The objective is to destroy the enemy team's 'Ancient,' which is a large structure on their side of the map. It's free to play and uses loot boxes to turn a profit.
Published by Valve, it has a steep learning curve, however. As of 2023, there are over seven million active players worldwide, with an average of 500,000 online at any time. In 2022 DOTA 2 was the third most popular game on Steam.
10 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
Commonly known as Rainbow Six, this game has eight modes and 20 maps as of 2023, each involving first-person Operators making tactical decisions. Usually, two multiplayer teams are made up of specialists representing secret services from different countries.
Ubisoft interviewed real counter-terrorist units to learn about the roles in these squads. From here, you battle for objectives such as hostages and bombs in short rounds. Plant traps, augment the environment, and use drones to gather intel on the enemy team's tactics. There are around 50,000 people online daily.
9 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
The average player count is around 700,000 people, all joining live servers to sneak around maps and headshot the enemy team. CS: GO is a massively popular two-team MMO where one team is the terrorists, and the other is anti-terrorists. With the number of concurrent online players peaking at 1,130,000 in November 2022, it doesn't look like the fanbase is slowing down either.
The in-game shop is accessible from the main menu and offers new weapons and skins for the character and guns. Game modes are being added and updated regularly, keeping the game fresh.
8 Destiny 2
2017 saw the release of Destiny 2 on Xbox, a first-person shooter in a massive multiplayer online world, defending the last city of humans on Earth. In 2019 it was made free to play and released across many more platforms. An average of 800,000 players log in daily to explore and interact with NPCs, meet other Guardians of Earth, and defeat the aliens that bring Darkness with them.
Team up with other players to patrol regions or join death matches to fight your friends. Expansions are added semi-regularly, providing new parts of the planet to investigate and protect. Shaders can be used to customize gear and emotes to communicate with others. These are bought with Silver, the in-game currency.
7 Hearthstone
Hearthstone is an online game with digital collectible cards, each featuring items, spells, minions, heroes, and locations based on the lore of Warcraft. Players construct a deck of 30 cards, as well as a Hero, and use strategy to take each other down.
It was developed by Blizzard by a small, experimental team in 2014 and now grosses $20 million per month despite being their first-ever free-to-play. This is through paid new expansion packs and deck customization. There are more than five million monthly players and regular tournaments with cash prizes.
6 World Of Warcraft
One of the biggest MMORPGs on the market, released by Blizzard in 2004, World of Warcraft has claimed many thousands of hours from its fans. A constantly growing world, with new areas, mounts, quests, NPCs, and bosses added regularly; it's no wonder well over 1.6 million people play every day.
WoW is one of the most profitable games of all time, pulling in sales through expansions and exciting new items. This game is about creating a character, gaining levels in many skills, fighting, questing, looting, and joining parties to raid huge monster NPCs for an awesome payout.
5 Apex Legends
Form two or three-person squads with your friends, or get matched with other random players. Then sneak through fictional worlds, picking up weapons and other items to help you survive. Win the game by being the last squad in the arena as the deadly gas seeps toward the center.
There are 15 million active weekly players in Apex Legends, all vying to climb the leaderboard and be the last one standing. There's also the Arena mode, where players go 3v3 over a series of rounds to find the champion squad. It's free to play and accessible on most platforms.
4 Among Us
Released as the world went into lockdown, many streamers and YouTubers gained a name for themselves playing Among Us. During its peak in 2020, there were 60 million daily players! Among Us is a tactical, puzzle-solving game where one or two players are alien imposters on a ship of astronauts, trying to kill innocent crew mates who are completing technical tasks.
In 2022 new roles were added to this game of deception, giving further levels of paranoia as engineers can use vents like imposters. Mods have been developed, including 3D first-person play and proximity speaking. Play on your mobile or PC, and customize your cute little astronaut with hats and pets for a small fee.
3 Fortnite
Fortnite, the immensely popular Battle Royale style game, took the streaming world by storm in 2017. Gamers leaped at the colorful, new third-person shooter; years later, the average active player count is 80 million a month. The most popular way to play is 100 players battling it out to be the last one standing as the poisonous fog draws in.
You can download Fortnite for free from Epic Games, and it works across most platforms, including mobile. Spruce up your character with skins through loot crates and in-game currency, get new weapons, and see the worldwide phenomenon of Fortnite dances.
2 League Of Legends
League of Legends is another free-to-play game with over 117 million monthly active accounts, and it's still growing. It was one of the first of its kind, released in 2009, with the idea to make money through aesthetics and collecting the full roster of unique champions. Teams are made up of five, aiming to destroy the enemy 'Nexus' using champions and abilities. If this sounds familiar, it's because it was inspired by the original DotA.
Holiday-themed events and skin releases occur regularly, introducing URF (Ultra Rapid Fire) and Mirror Match modes. New champions are created and released every three months, with over 100 so far, each with intricate lore, interactions, and skills.
1 Minecraft
It feels like Minecraft has been around forever, but it was fully released in May 2011. It has an average of 140 million monthly players. Minecraft is an endless, randomly generated sandbox survival world with mysteries, zombies, a final boss, and much more. Many developers made their name creating modpacks (modifications) for Minecraft, allowing for an infinite stream of creativity and possibilities.
You can play alone or with friends on a server and even participate in competitions like Bed Wars or speed running. Vast cities and worlds have been created in this 64-bit world. Luckily if you die in the game, you will respawn without your items unless you choose Hardcore mode, in which case the world is deleted, and all your progress with it.