By the Numbers: Seven Years of Achievements

Seven years ago today, on May 12, 2005, we were first introduced to the Xbox 360. Thanks to MTV, Elijah Wood, and The Killers, we learned everything we needed to know about Microsoft's new console in a thirty minute television show prior to E3 2005. There was a lot of talk about inhaling, creating and selling t-shirts in Tony Hawk, microtransactions, blades, and Gamer Zones. But, the most important thing that we learned about from J Allard that night, although we probably didn't know it then, was achievements. Love 'em or hate 'em, achievements have changed the way many of us play games.

At the end of 2011, I posted a blog chock full of achievement data pertaining to every Xbox 360 game released last year. So, what's the next step? How about every Xbox 360 game ever released? About 1500 games. I know...that's insane. Well...too late, because I've already compiled it all. The data you will find below was accumulated over the course of three days (May 3-5). Enough talkin', let's get to it.

Basics

To start off, here's some simple, somewhat boring info on average players per game, average completion rate, and average number of achievements unlocked.

Top 50 Most Played Games

Here's the most obvious category to include. Of nearly seven years of playing Xbox 360 games, these are the ones that are most played by Giant Bomb users. Not too many surprises, but would you have guessed Mirror's Edge would be in the top 50? Will anything ever topple Halo 3's reign at the top? Will four more people play Hexic to take over the #2 spot?

Top 50 Least Played Games

The #1 least played game is a bit of a cop out, but the game does have achievements, and some people did get their hands on it. No Giant Bomb users have, though. Well, one user did get PS3 copy, but we're not here to talk about trophies. I think the major takeaway here is to look at all those Kinect games!

Top 25 Most Played XBLA Games

It's not exactly fair to the XBLA games to always lump them in with the retail games. How 'bout them Doritos?

1. Hexic HD -- 28,953
2. Shadow Complex -- 19,010
3. Game Room -- 17,887
4. Castle Crashers -- 17,462
5. Uno -- 15,932
6. Geometry Wars Retro Evolved -- 15,793
7. Aegis Wing -- 13,803
8. Braid -- 13,627
9. Dash of Destruction -- 13,414
10. Splosion Man -- 13,220
11. Limbo -- 13,160
12. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- 12,560
13. Undertow -- 11,774
14. Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 -- 11,501
15. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero -- 11,294
16. Worms -- 11,036
17. Trials HD -- 10,778
18. Doom -- 10,617
19. Pac-Man Championship Edition -- 10,616
20. TMNT 1989 Arcade -- 10,559
21. Battlefield 1943 -- 10,194
22. Doritos Crash Course -- 10,139
23. Bastion -- 9945
24. 1 vs 100 -- 9822
25. Carcassone -- 9685

Top 25 Least Played XBLA Games

Tell the truth. How many of these games did you even know existed? They're right there on your dashboard! ...under like seven menus.

1. MLB Bobblehead Battle -- 12
2. Xotic -- 15
3. Deep Black: Episode 1 -- 17
4. Asteroids Deluxe -- 19
5. Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour -- 21
6. Dance! It's Your Stage -- 21
7. NBA Unrivaled -- 25
8. Fret Nice -- 26
9. Defenders of Ardania -- 28
10. Puzzlegeddon -- 29
11. Yo Ho Kablammo! -- 30
12. Lucha Fury -- 32
13. Days of Thunder: Arcade -- 34
14. Rhythm Party -- 34
15. Dream Chronicles -- 35
16. Rock Band Track Pack: Country Volume 2 -- 35
17. Inferno Pool -- 37
18. Rotastic -- 37
19. Star Raiders -- 38
20. Double D Dodgeball -- 40
21. Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure -- 42
22. Wrecked: Revenge Revisited -- 43
23. Haunted House -- 46
24. Boulder Dash-XL -- 48
25. Frogger 2 -- 49

Top 10 Most Played Kinect Games

Oh, Kinect. If it isn't clear from this list that Giant Bomb users aren't crazy (krazy?) about Kinect, wait til you see the next list.

1. Kinect Adventures! -- 7776
2. Dance Central -- 4698
3. Kinect Sports -- 3186
4. Kinect Fun Labs: Kinect Me -- 3065
5. Fruit Ninja Kinect -- 2756
6. Kinect Fun Labs: Googly Eyes -- 2286
7. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved -- 2138
8. Dance Central 2 -- 1781
9. Gunstringer, The -- 1660
10. Kinectimals -- 1336

Top 10 Least Played Kinect Games

Yikes. Eight titles with single digit user counts. That's gotta be tough to do.

1. Country Dance All Stars -- 2
2. Victorious: Time to Shine -- 3
3. Just Dance Kids -- 4
4. Motion Explosion! -- 5
5. Big League Sports -- 7
6. SpongeBob Surf & Skate Roadtrip -- 7
7. Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Hunting Party -- 8
8. Winter Stars -- 8
9. Self Defense Training Camp -- 10
10. Let's Cheer! -- 11

Top 10 Most Completed Games

This isn't just about finishing the game. This is about S-ranking the achievements. Are these games just super easy to get achievements for? Or are they so enthralling that players have to get every single one? Probably the former.

1. Megamind: Ultimate Showdown -- 95.4%
2. Backyard Football 2010 -- 92.8%
3. NCIS -- 90.9%
4. Avatar: The Burning Earth -- 87.6%
5. Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush -- 87.5%
6. Walking Dead, The -- 85.0%
7. Truth or Lies -- 84.7%
8. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian -- 81.4%
9. Hannah Montana: The Movie -- 81.1%
10. Kinect Fun Labs: Kinect Rush Snapshot -- 79.2%

Top 10 Least Completed Games

There's 13 games here, but that's to include ties. DOAX2 is notoriously difficult in terms of achievements. And, although I haven't played the XBLA version, I'm sure Ecco the Dolphin is still ridiculously hard.

1. NBA Elite 11 -- 0.0%
2. Screwjumper! -- 0.7%
3. Exit -- 0.9%
4. Battlestar Galactica -- 1.3%
5. Novadrome -- 1.4%
6. Street Trace: NYC -- 1.5%
7. Wing Commander Arena -- 1.6%
8. Tour de France 2011 -- 1.7%
9. Speedball 2 -- 1.8%
10. Minute to Win It -- 2.0%
11. Tony Hawk: Shred -- 2.0%
12. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 -- 2.0%
13. Ecco the Dolphin -- 2.0%

Top 20 Highest Average Number of Achievements (Retail)

I have no explanation for this eclectic mix of titles. Backyard Sports? Really?!

1. Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush -- 40.1
2. Mass Effect 2 -- 37.4
3. Rango -- 36.1
4. Mass Effect 3 -- 35.8
5. Captain America: Super Soldier -- 34.6
6. NASCAR Unleashed -- 34.1
7. Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole Returns Again, The -- 34.1
8. Happy Feet Two -- 32.5
9. Borderlands -- 32.5
10. Dragon Age II -- 31.4
11. Assassin's Creed II -- 30.9
12. X-Men: Destiny -- 30.0
13. Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers -- 29.8
14. Saints Row: The Third -- 29.6
15. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood -- 29.6
16. Generator Rex: Agent of Providence -- 29.3
17. Shadows of the Damned -- 28.9
18. Orange Box, The -- 28.9
19. Dead Space 2 -- 28.6
20. Madden NFL 12 -- 28.1

Top 20 Lowest Average Number of Achievements (Retail)

Unlike the list above, this one is at least explainable. As mentioned previously, no Giant Bomb users have put their mitts on a 360 copy of NBA Elite 11. And Tiger Woods 06 was a launch title that had legitimately broken achievements. There were several that simply did not work. Not just difficult to obtain, but literally impossible. And DOAX2 is just...well...not right.

1. NBA Elite 11 -- 0.0
2. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 -- 0.4
3. Earth Defense Force 2017 -- 0.7
4. Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 -- 0.8
5. FIFA 07 -- 0.9
6. World Championship Poker: All-In -- 1.0
7. Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII -- 1.0
8. Quake II -- 1.1
9. Supremacy MMA -- 1.3
10. Zoids Assault -- 1.3
11. Brunswick Pro Bowling -- 1.4
12. Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia -- 1.4
13. Rapala Tournament Fishing -- 1.5
14. Sonic the Hedgehog -- 1.5
15. Battle vs. Chess -- 1.6
16. Minute to Win It -- 1.6
17. Fighters Uncaged -- 1.9
18. MotionSports -- 1.9
19. Sonic Free Riders -- 1.9
20. Vampire Rain -- 1.9

Top 20 Highest Average Number of Achievements (XBLA)

Until just a few weeks ago, XBLA titles could only have a maximum of twelve achievements (not counting DLC). So, for Costume Quest and Full House Poker to have an average of over twelve is quite impressive.

1. Costume Quest -- 12.9
2. Full House Poker -- 12.8
3. Fable Heroes -- 11.9
4. Iron Brigade -- 10.2
5. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX -- 9.7
6. Section 8: Prejudice -- 9.3
7. Battle: Los Angeles -- 9.1
8. Daytona USA -- 8.8
9. Stacking -- 8.8
10. Bloodforge -- 8.2
11. Wallace & Gromit: Episode 3 - Muzzled! -- 8.2
12. Toy Soldiers: Cold War -- 8.2
13. Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 -- 8.1
14. After Burner Climax -- 8.1
15. Wallace & Gromit: Episode 2 - The Last Resort -- 7.8
16. KrissX -- 7.7
17. Wallace & Gromit: Episode 4 - The Bogey Man -- 7.7
18. Altered Beast -- 7.7
19. Dash of Destruction -- 7.7
20. Asteroids Deluxe -- 7.6

Top 20 Lowest Average Number of Achievements (XBLA)

Looks like a bunch of classic games were bought for nostalgia purposes, then never actually played very much. Pretty sure we're all guilty of that at some point.

1. Screwjumper! -- 0.1
2. Novadrome -- 0.1
3. Cyberball 2072 -- 0.2
4. Street Trace: NYC -- 0.2
5. Ecco the Dolphin -- 0.2
6. Battlestar Galactica -- 0.2
7. Wing Commander Arena -- 0.2
8. Exit -- 0.2
9. Speedball 2 -- 0.3
10. GEON -- 0.3
11. Missile Command -- 0.3
12. Battlezone -- 0.4
13. Tempest -- 0.4
14. Shrek n Roll -- 0.4
15. Yie Ar Kung-Fu -- 0.4
16. Centipede & Millipede -- 0.4
17. Gyruss -- 0.4
18. Rush'n Attack -- 0.4
19. Space Giraffe -- 0.4
20. Bejeweled 2 -- 0.4

Top 25 Most Played Franchises (Total Players)

By "total players" I mean if you take all the games in a particular franchise and simply add their player counts together. If you're shouting at me about that not being a fair way to determine the most popular franchise, calm down and scroll on down to the next category.

1. Call of Duty -- 114,756
2. Halo -- 88,584
3. Tom Clancy's -- 75,071
4. Gears of War -- 69,685
5. Assassin's Creed -- 63,432
6. Mass Effect -- 59,292
7. Guitar Hero -- 59,147
8. Rock Band -- 52,899
9. Battlefield -- 45,393
10. Fable -- 42,434
11. Dead Rising -- 41,877
12. Street Fighter -- 38,841
13. LEGO -- 38,439
14. BioShock -- 36,839
15. Fallout -- 32,568
16. Madden NFL -- 31,861
17. Left 4 Dead -- 31,852
18. Elder Scrolls, The -- 31,597
19. Hexic -- 31,496
20. Star Wars -- 30,307
21. Saints Row -- 29,963
22. Forza Motorsport -- 28,217
23. Pac-Man -- 27,539
24. Batman: Arkham -- 27,343
25. Geometry Wars -- 27,294

Top 25 Most Played Franchises (Average per Game)

Here I have taken the total player count (as seen above) and divided it by the number of games that franchise has had on Xbox 360. So, while Call of Duty has the highest player count, it's actually the 10th most played franchise on average.

1. Gears of War -- 23,228.3
2. Mass Effect -- 19,764.0
3. BioShock -- 18,419.5
4. Halo -- 17,716.8
5. Fallout -- 16,284.0
6. Left 4 Dead -- 15,926.0
7. Assassin's Creed -- 15,858.0
8. Elder Scrolls, The -- 15,798.5
9. Hexic -- 15,748.0
10. Call of Duty -- 14,344.5
11. Batman: Arkham -- 13,671.5
12. Geometry Wars -- 13,647.0
13. Crackdown -- 13,507.5
14. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas -- 12,673.5
15. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell -- 11,881.5
16. Doritos -- 11,776.5
17. Fable -- 10,608.5
18. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon -- 10,177.0
19. Saints Row -- 9987.7
20. Forza Motorsport -- 9405.7
21. Marvel Ultimate Alliance -- 9288.5
22. Battlefield -- 9078.6
23. Dragon Age -- 8959.0
24. Dead Space -- 8652.7
25. Uno -- 8635.0

Top 25 Most Played New IP

Out of all the completely new titles that have debuted during this longer-than-normal generation, these are the ones that knocked it out of the park in their first at-bat in the big leagues. Five of them are XBLA games!

1. Gears of War -- 28,956
2. Mass Effect -- 28,019
3. BioShock -- 24,722
4. Assassin's Creed -- 24,589
5. Dead Rising -- 20,556
6. Crackdown -- 20,383
7. Borderlands -- 19,915
8. Shadow Complex -- 19,010
9. Left 4 Dead -- 18,636
10. Castle Crashers -- 17,462
11. Dead Space -- 17,030
12. Rock Band -- 16,045
13. Alan Wake -- 15,861
14. Aegis Wing -- 13,803
15. Braid -- 13,627
16. Dash of Destruction -- 13,414
17. 'Splosion Man -- 13,220
18. Limbo -- 13,160
19. Mirror's Edge -- 13,069
20. Viva Piñata -- 13,011
21. Dragon Age: Origins -- 12,810
22. Undertow -- 11,774
23. Saints Row -- 11,603
24. Bayonetta -- 11,584
25. Brütal Legend -- 11,528

Most Played Launch Titles

The Xbox 360 launched in North America on November 22, 2005 with nineteen retail titles (20 including Quake II, which was on the Quake 4 disc). Here's how they stack up against each other in terms of most players.

1. Call of Duty 2 -- 11,915
2. Perfect Dark Zero -- 11,186
3. Project Gotham Racing 3 -- 10,187
4. Condemned: Criminal Origins -- 9604
5. Kameo: Elements of Power -- 8493
6. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie -- 5972
7. Need for Speed: Most Wanted -- 5494
8. Gun -- 4001
9. Quake 4 -- 3969
10. Madden NFL 06 -- 3702
11. Amped 3 -- 3461
12. NBA 2K6 -- 2996
13. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland -- 2100
14. Ridge Racer 6 -- 1995
15. NHL 2K6 -- 1866
16. NBA Live 06 -- 1797
17. Quake II -- 1380
18. College Hoops 2K6 -- 1376
19. FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup -- 1331
20. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 -- 1023

Top Played Games Released Between Christmas & New Year's Day

This random category was inspired by one of my favorite concept pages that maybe shouldn't exist.

1. Dead or Alive 4 -- 8970
2. New Rally X -- 2947
3. Dead Rising: Case West -- 2082
4. Raskulls -- 1770
5. Divinity II: Ego Draconis -- 399
6. MicroBot -- 255
7. SpongeBob SquarePants: Underpants Slam -- 187
8. All Zombies Must Die! -- 176

Top 10 Most Played Nolan North Games

It's no secret that Mr. North appears in more than a few games each year. Does his presence have anything do with the game's sales? That's hard to say for sure, but this is a pretty impressive list of games. And, if you're yelling at your monitor that I forgot Arkham City, I didn't. North's portrayal of The Penguin only garnered 9172 players on Xbox 360.

1. Halo 3 -- 30,796
2. Gears of War 2 -- 27,459
3. Fable II -- 27,205
4. Assassin's Creed -- 24,589
5. Assassin's Creed II -- 20,966
6. Halo 3 ODST -- 20,759
7. Shadow Complex -- 19,010
8. Call of Duty: World at War -- 16,157
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops -- 14,536
10. Marvel Ultimate Alliance -- 13,046

Top 5 Most Used Apps

Alright, I know they don't have achievements, but the site still tracks the number of users.

1. Halo Waypoint -- 19,752
2. Rock Band Music Store -- 6252
3. Destination Arcade -- 5591
4. ESPN3 -- 2856
5. Kinect Beta -- 215

Top 10 Most Played of 2005

And thus begins the portion of this data porn where we look at each year's biggest winners and losers. In the early days of Xbox 360, the game played most is the game that no one paid for.

1. Hexic HD -- 28,953
2. Geometry Wars Retro Evolved -- 15,793
3. Call of Duty 2 -- 11,915
4. Perfect Dark Zero -- 11,186
5. Project Gotham Racing 3 -- 10,187
6. Condemned: Criminal Origins -- 9604
7. Dead or Alive 4 -- 8970
8. Kameo: Elements of Power -- 8493
9. Zuma -- 6192
10. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie -- 5972

Top 10 Least Played of 2005

Apparently those Hardwood games didn't catch your attention on those blades.

1. Hardwood Spades -- 987
2. Hardwood Hearts -- 988
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 -- 1023
4. FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup -- 1331
5. College Hoops 2K6 -- 1376
6. Quake II -- 1380
7. NBA Live 06 -- 1797
8. Hardwood Backgammon -- 1847
9. NHL 2K6 -- 1866
10. Ridge Racer 6 -- 1995

Top 10 Most Played of 2006

Looking back at it, 2006 was a pretty awesome year. Some heavy hitters and great new IP as well.

1. Gears of War -- 28,956
2. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The -- 20,773
3. Dead Rising -- 20,556
4. Uno -- 15,932
5. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas -- 14,017
6. Marvel Ultimate Alliance -- 13,046
7. Guitar Hero II -- 13,033
8. Viva Piñata -- 13,011
9. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter -- 12,287
10. Saints Row -- 11,603

Top 10 Least Played of 2006

Including some of these European football games may be cheating a bit, but I didn't want to discriminate. Giant Bombers clearly don't like pimpin' rides or tunin' imports though.

1. World Championship Poker: All-In -- 80
2. LMA Manager 2007 -- 95
3. Rapala Tournament Fishing -- 175
4. Football Manager 2007 -- 192
5. Football Manager 2006 -- 239
6. Bomberman: Act Zero -- 340
7. Pimp My Ride -- 349
8. Import Tuner Challenge -- 368
9. Cabela's African Safari -- 554
10. Bionicle Heroes -- 604

Top 10 Most Played of 2007

Hail to the king. The launch of Halo 3 was truly an event. It's no surprise that it's the most played Xbox 360 game on Giant Bomb. But, a little game from Edmonton...Alberta, Canada nearly eclipsed it on it's first try. And Guitar Hero III just barely squeaked by Rock Band.

1. Halo 3 -- 30796
2. Mass Effect -- 28019
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- 25719
4. BioShock -- 24722
5. Assassin's Creed -- 24589
6. Orange Box, The -- 20504
7. Crackdown -- 20383
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock -- 16300
9. Rock Band -- 16045
10. Forza Motorsport 2 -- 13823

Top 10 Least Played of 2007

So, we're not big fans of managing soccer, shooting animals, monster trucks, Hot Wheels, or whatever the fuck snooker is. Good to know!

1. Championship Manager 2007 -- 39
2. America's Army: True Soldiers -- 130
3. Smash Court Tennis 3 -- 157
4. Cabela's Trophy Bucks -- 157
5. SpongeBob SquarePants: Underpants Slam -- 187
6. Monster Jam -- 189
7. History Channel: Battle for the Pacific -- 209
8. World Snooker Championship 2007 -- 211
9. Hot Wheels: Beat That! -- 215
10. Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal -- 232

Top 10 Most Played of 2008

A mere 700 players or so are all that separate Gears of War 2 from Giant Bomb's 2008 Game of the Year, GTA4.

1. Grand Theft Auto IV -- 28,213
2. Gears of War 2 -- 27,459
3. Fable II -- 27,205
4. Fallout 3 -- 23,104
5. Left 4 Dead -- 18,636
6. Castle Crashers -- 17,462
7. Dead Space -- 17,030
8. Call of Duty: World at War -- 16,157
9. Burnout Paradise -- 15,099
10. Rock Band 2 -- 14,029

Top 10 Least Played of 2008

I'm gonna be completely honest. I only knew three of these games even existed.

1. Puzzlegeddon -- 29
2. Winter Sports 2: The Next Challenge -- 33
3. Double D Dodgeball -- 40
4. Frogger 2 -- 49
5. Crazy Mouse -- 49
6. Merv Griffin's Crosswords -- 56
7. Summer Athletics -- 65
8. Shotest Shogi -- 71
9. Crash Time: Autobahn Pursuit -- 72
10. Football Manager 2008 -- 74

Top 10 Most Played of 2009

Mother fuckin' 'Splosion Man, guys. That's the power of Summer of Arcade.

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- 24,693
2. Assassin's Creed II -- 20,966
3. Halo 3: ODST -- 20,759
4. Borderlands -- 19,915
5. Shadow Complex -- 19,010
6. Batman: Arkham Asylum -- 18,171
7. Resident Evil 5 -- 17,452
8. 'Splosion Man -- 13,220
9. Left 4 Dead 2 -- 13,216
10. Dragon Age: Origins -- 12,810

Top 10 Least Played of 2009

If you weren't aware, more people need to play Crash Time.

1. Summer Athletics 2009 -- 25
2. NBA Unrivaled -- 25
3. Yo Ho Kablammo! -- 30
4. Inferno Pool -- 37
5. Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure -- 42
6. Indianapolis 500 Evolution -- 42
7. Crash Time III: Highway Nights -- 50
8. Crash Time II: Burning Wheels -- 52
9. SBK-09 Superbike World Championship -- 54
10. Tour de France 2009 -- 59

Top 10 Most Played of 2010

This is the closest race in these yearly battles. Less than 1000 players separate #1 from #3, and it was #3 that won Giant Bomb's 2010 Game of the Year. Ironically, it was #4 that provided some of the most content on the site.

1. Halo Reach -- 22,902
2. Red Dead Redemption -- 22,426
3. Mass Effect 2 -- 22,006
4. Game Room -- 17,887
5. Alan Wake -- 15,861
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops -- 14,536
7. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction -- 13,297
8. Limbo -- 13,160
9. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood -- 12,696
10. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 -- 12,429

Top 10 Least Played of 2010

The only Xbox 360 game in existence that no one on Giant Bomb has played. Then, some Kinect junk, chess, game shows, and...fuckin' darts. Darts, guys. Darts.

1. NBA Elite 11 -- 0
2. Just Dance Kids -- 4
3. Get Fit with Mel B -- 10
4. X Factor, The -- 13
5. Battle vs. Chess -- 14
6. Bass Pro Shops: The Hunt -- 16
7. Minute to Win It -- 17
8. Asteroids Deluxe -- 19
9. Bakugan: Defenders of the Core -- 19
10. PDC World Championship Darts: Pro Tour -- 20

Top 10 Most Played of 2011

A few things have changed since my 2011 stats blog. Most notably, Saints Row: The Third has jumped into the top 10. I think the fact that @Ryan was repeatedly telling everyone and their mother to play it has actually worked.

1. Gears of War 3 -- 13,270
2. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The -- 10,824
3. L.A. Noire -- 10,454
4. Bastion -- 9945
5. Batman: Arkham City -- 9172
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 -- 8387
7. Portal 2 -- 7781
8. Mortal Kombat -- 7539
9. Saints Row: The Third -- 7302
10. Bulletstorm -- 6931

Top 10 Least Played of 2011

Oh, geez....look at all those Kinect games.

1. Victorious: Time to Shine -- 3
2. Motion Explosion! -- 5
3. Rapala for Kinect -- 6
4. Karaoke Revolution: Glee Volume 3 -- 6
5. Winter Sports 2011 -- 7
6. SpongeBob Surf & Skate Roadtrip -- 7
7. Big League Sports -- 7
8. Crash Time 4: The Syndicate -- 8
9. Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Hunting Party -- 8
10. Winter Stars -- 8

Top 10 Most Played of 2012

It's not even half over yet, but if any game is going to catch Mass Effect 3 in 2012, it's gonna be pretty tough. And how about those two XBLA in the top 3?

1. Mass Effect 3 -- 9267
2. Fez -- 5984
3. Trials Evolution -- 5397
4. SSX -- 2751
5. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning -- 2441
6. Walking Dead, The -- 1811
7. Syndicate -- 1671
8. Darkness II, The -- 1575
9. Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The -- 1445
10. Alan Wake's American Nightmare -- 1390

Top 10 Least Played of 2012

Anyone want to take bets on how many players Country Dance All Stars has at the end of the year? Will it break out of single digits?

1. Country Dance All Stars -- 2
2. Summer Stars 2012 -- 3
3. Mud: FIM Motocross World Championship -- 6
4. Onechanbara Z: Kagura -- 7
5. Top Gun: Hard Lock -- 17
6. Deep Black: Episode 1 -- 17
7. Defenders of Ardania -- 28
8. Rhythm Party -- 34
9. Zumba Fitness Rush -- 42
10. Birds of Steel -- 43

Random Facts

If you follow me on Twitter (@MarinoV1), you've probably seen most of these. They are just random observations I made while gathering all the data for this project. Some are interesting. Some are pretty dumb. But, here they are. I hope you enjoyed all this data porn.

• The only time the Giant Bomb Game of the Year was the most played game that year was 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV.
• Currently, 93 games have over 10,000 players. Both Bastion and Guitar Hero World Tour need 45 more to be #94.
• 19 of the top 50 most played games were new IP's. 4 of the top 50 were sequels to those new IP's.
• Based on avg # of players per game, the Doritos franchise is more popular than Fable, Forza, Ghost Recon, Battlefield, and Dragon Age.
• Only 14% of players who completed Mass Effect 3 did it without picking up Javik.
• People like trucks. 70.72% of people who played Dead Island killed at least 50 zombies with a vehicle.
• No GB users have gotten their hands on an Xbox 360 version of NBA Elite 11. One did on PS3 though.
• 215 Giant Bomb members participated in the Kinect Beta in Fall 2010.
• Released on the same day, 57 more people have played Scott Pilgrim than have played Monday Night Combat.
• 63.91% of those who played LIMBO completed it, but only 2.27% did it without dying more than 5 times.
• Asteroids is probably one of the most popular games ever. Not Asteroids Deluxe though. 19 players.
• Of the 28,018 who played the 1st Mass Effect, 23.1% never completed Eden Prime (the 1st mission).
• Only 18.6% didn't finish the first mission in ME2. That's improvement!
• Dragon Age Romance - Morrigan 32.77% - Leliana 21.39% - Zevran 19% - Alistair 13.54% - EVERYONE 8.52%.
• Of the 13,000+ users that played Forza 2, only 1.23% can claim they earned 1,000,000 online credits.
• Nearly 20,000 played Borderlands, but over 4000 of them never saw level 5.
• It's been 2.5 years, but Madden 10 still has more players than Wolfenstein. @snide still wins.
• 186 people are completely insane for accomplishing a "Hardcore" run in 'Splosion Man.
• Nearly 10,000 played 1 vs 100, but only 15.71% answered 500+ questions before it shut down.
• Despite being the site's first ever 1-star review, 5336 people still played Fable II Pub Games.
• Barely 50% that played Braid completely figured it out. But only 1.59% completed the speed run.
• Of the 28,213 who played GTA4 only 41 (0.14%) won a match of each of the multiplayer game types.
• 25% of the 15,000+ who played Burnout Paradise never won a race.
• 38 people earned an 'A' rank on every challenge in Sneak King.
• 8 people have collected every item in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

Jesus you have alot of time on your hands. Cool that you did this though.

Marino just dropped a giant bomb.

We really count NBA Elite 11?

That game never actually came out

8 people have collected every item in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

These people must be hunted down and put on trial. Jude Luchadeer will preside.

Very cool stuff. I assume most people, like myself, played Fable Pub Games for free.

@GorillaMoPena said:

We really count NBA Elite 11?

That game never actually came out

It was canceled so late that it was probably in the achievements system. That's probably enough. I wonder how many people have any unlocked.

Holy shit this is impressive. How long did it take for you to gather all data?

@DarthOrange said:

Holy shit this is impressive. How long did it take for you to gather all data?

I've been working on it for a while. I used xbox360achievements.com to compile a list of all the games. Then, last week, I spent time over three days gathering the actual data. I wanted to do that part quickly for accuracy. If I had gathered some data last month, then some this week, I didn't feel that would be fair. Once I had all the data, I just started putting together lists.

I suspect the NBA Elite 11 achievements have been completely disabled on the server side. We pulled them in during a very short window when you could find them on a couple of accounts used for title certification. I bet if you put it in right now it disconnects you from Xbox Live, and once you reconnect, it probably sees the game's title ID as invalid, preventing it from even staying on your profile. I'd guess that the only way to earn and keep those points would be to play it on an offline profile.

So many stats! This is fan-fucking-tastic, good job.

Great post. Riveting for some reason.

You crazy magnificent bastard.

Awesome stuff duder!

@Jeff said:

I suspect the NBA Elite 11 achievements have been completely disabled on the server side. We pulled them in during a very short window when you could find them on a couple of accounts used for title certification. I bet if you put it in right now it disconnects you from Xbox Live, and once you reconnect, it probably sees the game's title ID as invalid, preventing it from even staying on your profile. I'd guess that the only way to earn and keep those points would be to play it on an offline profile.

This has to be the case, on other achievement sites the whole game page seems to be a dead link. Many of them are online achievements I believe too, so then we are getting into offline profiles and hacking I guess. I feel like I should have kept the demo on my harddrive for historical purposes.

That's pretty insane man, I keep forgetting Call of Duty 2 was a launch title, I don't know why I find it weird. I don't own an xbox360 but I still find this amazing, achievements are incredible.

Metagaming.

Wow you have alot of spare time!

Also do americans REALLY not know what snooker is?!

What a writeup! A lot of interesting stuff in there. And btw, I was one of those who beat Mass Effect 3 without Javik. It was my roommate's game and I played it first so I didn't want to take the download from him, or the online pass.

This is fascinating. Great work!

@CptChiken said:

Wow you have alot of spare time!

Also do americans REALLY not know what snooker is?!

I actually do, but I doubt many would. I've never seen it on TV here, and I watch a lot of ESPN's half a dozen different channels.

I love me some stats!

It's interesting how players per game has decreased each year since 2007.

• 2005: 117,265
• 2006: 163,214
• 2007: 220,900
• 2008: 204,394
• 2009: 180,212
• 2010: 167,200
• 2011: 91,605
• 2012: 33,732 (Through 5 months)

Obviously the spike from 2005 to 2007 is due to the spike in GB users as the site gained popularity. But since then, total players for the top 10 played games has dropped, on average, by 25,859 players per year. Now this means one of two things. Either GB has been losing active years each year, or the more likely scenario, users are playing less "AAA" games. Why this is the case isn't exactly clear, as the quality of games hasn't gone down. 2011's top 10 featured game such as, Skyrim, Gears 3, MW3, SR3, Arkham City, Bastion, LA Noire, and Portal 2, all critically acclaimed games, and mostly sequels to wildly popular franchises.

After typing all this up, I think the most likely answer is the rise of indie games. Over the same time frame that player totals for the "top tier" games has gone down, we've seen a greater variety of genre releases and many indie games being put out through Steam, XBLA, and PSN. This also coincides with the sentiment that downloadable games are getting better and better each year.

Quite surprised that Avatar isn't #1 on the most completed list.

Oh the stats... the stats

This is some interesting/great/and slightly crazy work you have done.

Wait for the year stuff those are the total number of players of all time to play those games that came out each year. Is there any way to find out how many played them in only that year? They do list when you got an achievement but is that compiled?

Amazing post. I am a little ashamed at how many of the "least played" games I have played. I would also love to get my hands on a copy of NBA Elite 11.

@Daveyo520 said:

Wait for the year stuff those are the total number of players of all time to play those games that came out each year. Is there any way to find out how many played them in only that year? They do list when you got an achievement but is that compiled?

While technically possible, that would require going to each individual user's page for each achievement on each game. So...definitely not feasible.

@Marino: Ya that is way too much work.

@ADAMWD: The first half of your assumption is incorrect; Giant Bomb was formed in 2008. The adoption rate of the Xbox 360 simply reached its peak in 2007, after Oblivion and Gears of War had been out for a year and Halo 3, BioShock, and Mass Effect had shipped.

~

The falloff can partially be attributed to the indie scene, but I would also happily attribute the rise of the PlayStation 3 in 2008 (with Uncharted having been out for a year, and Metal Gear Solid 4 selling many systems) and 2009 (with 2009 being the first year many people, including our own Brad Shoemaker, felt comfortable recommending a PS3 to someone making a console purchase based on games like Uncharted 2, flower, and Demon's Souls) and the Steam platform.

Essentially, until 2008, there were really only two rather solid games markets; the triple-A titles on the Xbox 360 and the Wii. The PS3 was very limited in interesting exclusive software until at least 2008. The rise of the indie game and downloadable title certainly happened in the wake of Castle Crashers and Braid, both 2008 titles. And, lastly, the PC was considered largely to be an MMO wasteland by most consumers until the Steam marketplace began to really sell titles in late 2007, added Steamworks and Steam Community in 2008, and then add Matchmaking and Steam Cloud in 2009.

Man, does anyone remember the crazy that was the DOA 4 launch? I went to the gamestop on the day of when they opened and the guys working didn't even know if the game was coming out that day. It was nuts like everyone was "kinda" sure it was being released but the date had been bumped around so much that nobody was 100% sure.

Didn't I see something like this some months ago?

@ADAMWD: Those annual stats are only based upon what year the game came out in, not when the user obtained the achievement. Whether users are active doesn't really make much difference. Even if the site's active user base had decreased over the last couple years, which I highly doubt, those inactive users still have their account linked to their GamerTag (unless they took the time to un-sync it). So, even if a user isn't around as much (or at all), the site is most likely still tracking their achievement activity.

@ADAMWD said:

Now this means one of two things. Either GB has been losing active years each year, or the more likely scenario, users are playing less "AAA" games.

Option three: GB users are disproportionately more hardcore to migrate to Steam, dropping off Xbox achievement lists.

Option four: GB users are disproportionately more likely to purchase and then split time between Xbox and PS3, 'losing' achievements to trophies.

Option five: Sequel fatigue. Are you really missing much if you skip Halo Anniversary or Assassin's Creed 2-3?

It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of it is fact Option 1 flavored with Option 5 (while I have more disposable income than ever, I have less time and interest in yet another same engine sequel waiting for the next console cycle), mixed with some Option 3 (After a decade without, I put together a gaming PC for my brother last week, and that night he was hitting Steam for heavily discounted 2011 releases).

@sins_of_mosin said:

Didn't I see something like this some months ago?

As I stated in the second paragraph, I did a post about 2011 games at the end of last year. I've done probably seven or eight statistics-based blogs like this covering different things.

I'd be interested in what the single most gotten and least (actually obtainable) achievements are.

@Little_Socrates: Man, I have no idea why in the hell I was thinking Giant Bomb launched in 2005. PS3 didn't even cross my mind since I only play on 360/PC and there aren't any PS3 exclusives in the top 10 from 2008-2011 to remind me. Thanks, for pointing out my inaccuracies.

@Marino: Ohhh, so it's top 10 games played in 2011 not from 2011. That changes a lot.

@Marino: Ohhh, so it's top 10 games played in 2011 not from 2011. That changes a lot.

I think the best way to describe my thoughts on this is through altered song lyrics:
 
Hey, I just saw this,
And these stats are crazy,
Look at all those numbers,
People like achievements, maybe?

@Marino: Yeah, it would probably be hard to quantify.

I'm amazed 8 people have gotten every item in DOAX2. That would take a insane amount of time playing that game.

Oooo, numbers. I love numbers. Thanks for the stats.

Fantastic work good sir. I love this amount of achievement detail. I have played all but 8 of the top 50 and have played zero from any of the least played lists.

Laughing my ass off that Backyard Sports beats Mass Effect 2 in average achievements! I actually loved playing those games when I was really young, but judging from the cover, I think they took major liberties redesigning the characters, just saying.

@Marino: what's with the significant drop in top 10 most played between 2010 and 2011? Otherwise this is very impressive.

This is why I miss those pie charts :/

I wonder what the average GB user's individual gamer score is. For me, at least, it isn't as much about the raw number but the achievements that got me there (beating XBLA Contra over a super-laggy connection with a rando is a personal triumph).

Awesome, thanks for doing this.

@mracoon said:

I think the best way to describe my thoughts on this is through altered song lyrics: Hey, I just saw this,And these stats are crazy, Look at all those numbers, People like achievements, maybe?

Summer jam, confirmed.