Editor’s note: The peak concurrent figures listed in this article have been pulled from publicly available information that, in some cases, is limited to a single platform. Where the article denotes a plus symbol, the figure does not include player numbers on a platform that likely would have added to its total substantially (i.e. PS4 and Xbox One), or because it was stated that the actual number exceeded the figure stated. These are the most popular games – or most played games – of all time, ranked by peak concurrent players.
Check out our most popular games to Stream ranked by average users or most popular MMORPGs ranked by total active users.
20) Warframe – 129,002+
Most Played Games Ever (Ranked By Peak Concurrent Players)
Warframe has been around for some time, and its been quietly gaining more and more momentum as one of the industry’s most-played free-to-play shooters.
In fact, developer Digital Extreme celebrated Warframe’s fifth birthday back in March 2018 with some stunning announcements.
Notably, Warframe had been played by nearly 40 million players since launch, with 8 million having arrived in 2017 alone.
As for concurrent players, well, we only have Steam data to work with, but the numbers are still pretty impressive.
Two months ago, Warframe recorded its highest concurrent players on Steam ever with 129,002. You’d have to imagine that number would be significantly more with what we assume is a pretty substantial console community added to the equation.
19) Maple Story – 136,000 +
Most Played Games Ever
The 2D MMORPG Maple Story has dropped off quite a bit in recent years, but during in its golden years, it was hitting some pretty serious concurrent player numbers.
In 2009, Maple Story achieved “over” 136,000 concurrent players according to Nexon America CEO, Daniel Kim.
The figure stated is actually for North American servers only, so the global total was likely far higher.
Not hard to imagine given that in the same year, Maple Story had 92 million active users. Compatibility issues with Windows 10 have since seen the population dwindle.
18) Terraria – 158, 947
Most Played Games of All Time
In many ways, Terraria is a 2D version of Minecraft —a sandbox survival game in which you can terraform the landscape, breaking down every block to use resources for crafting all manner of useful items.
The game first launched back in 2011, and its since gained a huge following that has peaked and dipped over the years. Originally a window game, Terraria is now multiplatform, available on PS4 and Xbox One.
Unfortunately, we don’t have data available for concurrent player counts across all hardware simultaneously, but Steam Charts did record a whopping 158, 947 players back in June 2015.
Notably, just a month prior to that, numbers were down as low as 15,000. So why the huge spike? Well, a massive update, version 1.3.0.1, brought players back into the game by the truckload.
Terraria hasn’t ever matched its purple patch back in June/July of 2015, at least not on Steam alone, but it does still record upward of 30,000 consistently. Might impressive for such an older timer!
17) Left 4 Dead 2 – 161,590
Most Played Games of All Time
Quite possibly one of the most iconic co-operative PC shooters ever, Left 4 Dead 2 has been both an online and LAN favorite for years.
The focus on hardcore team coordination to slay hordes of undead went down a treat way back in 2009, and the game still pulls in thousands of players each month nearly ten years later.
Back in December 2013, however, Left 4 Dead fever reached its zenith with a staggering 161,590 players all fighting for survival at the same time.
And to think that number was achieved by a game that groups four or so players in separate servers is quite astonishing.
16) Rainbow Six Siege – 176,208 +
Most Played Games Ever
What a comeback Rainbow Six Siege has made since its first launch.
A lack of content, server issues, bugs, and various balancing issues plagued the game’s opening few months and earned it a fairly mediocre critical reception, but Ubisoft has since worked tirelessly to improve the experience, and that’s opened the door not only for returning players but thousands of new ones, too.
The numbers we’re referencing here just come from Steam, but keep in mind that the game has a very active community on both Xbox One and PS4, which might very well boost total concurrent numbers closer to 500,000.
15) H1Z1 – 200,000 +
Most Played Games Ever
H1Z1’s open beta on PS4 launched on May 22 and recorded over 1.5 million total players in just two days. During that time, its peak concurrent player count rocketed to 200,000.
For reference, its best effort on PC was 150,179 back in July 2017. Numbers over on PC aren’t quite what they used to be, however, and on the days of May 22 and 23, while PS4 was racking up its impressive tally, concurrent players on PC peaked at around 6,500.
Of course, the game is still in open-beta on console so it remains to be seen quite how those numbers stabilize over the coming weeks. It’s worth noting that even its full console release will still follow a free-to-play model.
14) Rocket League – 220,000
Most Played Games Ever
Who would have thought a game about playing soccer with rocket-powered cars would prove such a winner?
Rocket League has been a phenomenal success since it first launched as a PS Plus freebie back in 2015, which quickly grew a substantial community of players.
Its super addictive gameplay soon had word spreading beyond its month as a free game, and Rocket League’s momentum began to snowball.
Now ported to Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of things slowing down.
Particularly as developer Psyionix continues to support the game with exciting new content all the time.
Psyionix announced back in 2016 that Rocket League had achieved over 220,000 concurrent players, but that number maybe have been exceeded since considering the additional platforms it is now available on.
13) Grand Theft Auto V – 360, 761
Most Played Games Ever
Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past five years, you’ll know that Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V is a behemoth of the entertainment industry.
More than just its impressive launch numbers —$1 billion revenue in three days on the market— it has continued as a major force years after launch, regularly featuring in the top 10 most-sold games each month.
You won’t be surprised to see it on this list, then, but you might have expected it closer to the top of the pile.
Well, our figures don’t include console players, so the 360, 761 is just the PC community on Steam back in 2015. Still, pretty massive for a single platform.
What’s also impressive is that just last month (June 2018), GTAV saw over 130,000 players playing concurrently on Steam.
12) Fallout 4 – 471,955 +
Most Played Games of All Time
Fallout 4’s near 472,000 concurrent player count might trail the next spot by half, but it’s still a hugely significant number. Unlike the rest of the games here, this is a single-player experience.
There’s no competitive element to its gameplay, nor are play sessions governed by set rounds that commit dozens of players to a server for any one time.
Quite simply, hundreds of thousands of fans were glued to their individual adventures when Fallout 4 released back in 2015. And that’s just on Steam.
The figure doesn’t include PS4 and Xbox One players which would likely add over twice that number to the total.
11) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – 823,694
Most Played Games of All Time
Counter-Strike is one of the oldest franchises listed here. Valve’s iconic tactical shooter has gone through multiple iterations, and each has enjoyed substantial followings over the years.
None, however, have reached the same level of interest as Global Offensive. More than just a reflashed and updated graphical engine, Global Offensive changed the nature of player engagement by adding a progression system to the experience for the first time.
Its free-to-play structure has also proven a big winner, and cosmetic microtransactions have given rise to some of the most absurdly priced digital loot we’ve ever seen in gaming.
Regardless, at its core, Global Offensive is still a brilliant gameplay experience, and although its concurrent numbers haven’t approached its 823,694 record for quite some time, it’s still regularly recording half a million players.
10) Minecraft – 1 Million +
Most Played Games Ever
The phenomenon that is Minecraft is still a huge force in the video game industry despite the fact it’s nearly 10 years old.
The game recently sold through 144 million units in total, which makes it the second best selling video game of all time.
Back in 2015 when the game had sold only half that amount of copies, developer Nathan Adams tweeted that Minecraft was being played by 998,000 people – and that wasn’t even a peak hour.
We’re certain Minecraft regularly exceeds one million concurrent players, possibly much higher.
9) World of Tanks – 1.1 Million
Most Played Games Ever
Russia loves tanks. Perhaps it started with the iconic T-34 thwarting the Germans in WW2? Or maybe the columns of tanks parading up and down Red Square every year since have fostered have made them a household favorite?
Either way, the country’s love of tanks has woven itself into the DNA of its video gaming industry.
World of Tanks is the free-to-play tank warfare simulator that has taken the world by storm. Well… mostly Russia, but it’s still a force to be reckoned with on a global scale too.
Back in 2016, the active user count reached a mammoth 140 million, while the 1.1 million peak concurrent players were recorded on a Russian server two years earlier.
8) CoD: Black Ops – 1.1 Million +
Most Played Games Ever
Despite there having been five mainline entries in the Call of Duty series and two sequels to the Black Ops spin-off since the original’s 2010 release, the very first Black Ops still holds the record for the most number of players at any one time.
To be fair, it was exceptionally well-received by critics and Call of Duty fever was at its zenith after the success of the Modern Warfare series.
The figure 1.1+ million figure quoted represents the combination of 1 million concurrent players recorded on Xbox Live and 140,000 on Steam.
We’ve denoted a plus symbol because this figure doesn’t include an unknown number of PS3 and Wii U players – which might very well have pushed it beyond 2 million.
7) Destiny 2 – 1.2 Million
Most Played Games Ever, Ranked By Peak Concurrent Players
Despite some of the teething problems the original title battled with, Bungie’s sequel was hotly anticipated when it launched late last year.
The wider scope to its narrative, the promise of even more content, and lessons learned from the first game built a fever-pitch level of excitement for Destiny 2.
Within two weeks of its launch, Bungie announced the game had been played by 1.2 million users at the same time.
That number would likely have been far higher had the PC version released in unison with console versions.
6) DOTA 2 – 1.26 Million
Most Played Games Ever
Perhaps not the most popular, but arguably the most recognizable and seminal name in the MOBA genre, DOTA 2 has made a huge impression on multiplayer gaming.
Though numbers have slipped since recording its peak of 1.26 million concurrent players back in January 2016, the game still commands a substantial community of players.
As an esport, it lags only behind League of Legends in the MOBA scene with regards tournament prize pools and twitch viewership numbers.
5) FIFA 18 – 1.6 million +
Most Played Games Ever
FIFA is EA’s most popular video game franchises and perhaps the most globally played video game in the world.
Each year a new version typically brings only minor upgrades and tweaks to performance and gameplay, but that doesn’t stop the game flying off the shelves at launch.
On its opening weekend, EA’s twitter account posted a video revealing the game hit 1.6 million simultaneous players across all platforms.
4) PUBG – 3.2 million +
Most Played Games Ever
Still the ultimate battle royale experience for many, PUBG basically took over the competitive multiplayer scene in 2017, eclipsing even some of the most established games for peak concurrent players.
With PUBG, Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene, known for his contribution to H1Z1’s popular King of the Hill modes, was finally able to build his own vision for a military simulation battle royale title from the ground up, and the reception has been unprecedented.
In less than a year, the game has completely transformed the landscape of multiplayer gaming, forcing other shooters to wake up and take notice and try to follow suit with their own versions.
With almost every new month, PUBG has touted record-breaking concurrent player counts. Only now do the numbers appear to have plateaued from its peak of 3.2 million recorded last month.
It should be noted this figure does not include Xbox One figures, which we know has a 3 million strong pool of players.
3) League of Legends – 7.5 million
Most Played Games Ever
League of Legends took the MOBA gameplay loop established by titles like the original DOTA and streamlined it into a faster and more accessible package.
Years after the genre practically took over the competitive multiplayer scene, League of Legends remains the undisputed king.
Crushing record after record, its peak concurrent players is a mind-boggling 7.5 million concurrent players.
That’s over five times as popular as its nearest rival in the MOBA genre.
2) CrossFire – 8 million
Most Played Games Ever
When one thinks of popular FPS titles, Call of Duty, Destiny, and Halo probably spring to mind. You’re certainly unlikely to think of CrossFire, an astronomically popular shooter out of Asia that has slowly gained traction on a global scale.
In fact, it’s now played in several countries, and at one point, toppled even the global phenomenon that is League of Legends with a whopping 8 million concurrent players.
Despite being one of the most popular games in China, CrossFire is actually a Korean developed title by SmileGate.
The free-to-play tactical shooter plays a little like Counter-Strike, in which players chose from two separate Mercenary Groups and play in different game modes.
Traditional modes such as team deathmatch and bomb defusal are joined by various horde modes.
Fun fact: as of 2016, CrossFire has grossed $6.8 billion, making it one of the highest-grossing video games of all time.
1) Fortnite Battle Royale – 8.3 million
Most Played Games Ever
Surely one of the biggest comeback stories in video gaming history, Fortnite’s original PvE experience was met with a middling reception and enjoyed only a modest-sized community of players.
But everything has changed. With the clever release of a battle royale mode akin to the massively popular PUBG – which was itself recording biblical player counts at the time – developer Epic Games has transformed the game into one of the world’s most popular titles in the space of fewer than six months.
The free-to-play game features the same last-man-standing gameplay as its rival, in which players parachute onto an island, scavenge for weapons and resources, and then duke it out to the death.
The big twist is that the base game’s building mechanics remain intact, adding a fresh spin to the formula. It’s proven a winning formula, with its 8.3 million concurrent player count wrestling the record away from its rival, PUBG – albeit as a free-to-play, multiplatform title.
That does it for the most popular games, ranked by peak concurrent players. That makes these among the most played games ever.
About the author
