Most-played games of Q1 2022 revealed, Elden Ring didn’t make the cut
It’s still the best seller though.
Tony Wilson 
Screenshot by DoubleXP
It’s about this time of the year that first-quarter video game stats start making the rounds, and now we know what the most-played titles were. The list itself doesn’t have many surprises, but at least one big title, Elden Ring, didn’t make the top 10, which is actually quite interesting.
This particular Q1 report comes from The NPD Group. Executive director Matt Piscatella shared a summary on Twitter, pointing out that “half of the top 10 [games] weren’t launched this decade.” It’s true: the top five are all from before 2020, with the likes of Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto V, The Sims 4, Fortnite, and Among Us taking the top spots, in that order. As Piscatella points out, all of those titles are well-established games with constant updates and live elements. The social aspect of the top-ranking games can’t be overlooked.
Further in the thread, Piscatella suggests that services like Game Pass and PlayStation Plus “will help” other games reach the top 10. It can be a smart move for an existing game or a launch option for a new title. We may see more of that when PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now combine into a single service in June.
Piscatella also brings up Elden Ring, which was the top-selling game of “the trailing 12-month period ending April 2022.” It was the second best-seller of April overall, coming only behind Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Despite the roaring success, Elden Ring failed to crack the top 10 most-played list. It ranked 20th according to the NPD Group’s findings.
Even so, Elden Ring continues to be quite popular. Its fans are quite vocal (and often heated about potential content), with a desire to see popular bosses like Malenia ported into Sekiro, another FromSoftware game. They have also pitted her against every major boss in the game and brought the Game of Thrones connection full circle with an Arya Stark mod.
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