Large shifts in both the top and bottom of Newzoo’s and Overwolf’s Top 20 Core PC Games ranking made September quite an interesting month. The biggest highlight was MMORPG World of Warcraft climbing three positions to #2 from its almost permanent #5 spot. The tremendous increase in player and session numbers doesn’t come as a huge surprise seeing as Blizzard released the game’s sixth big expansion, Legion, at the end of August. Our September PC Games Market Monitor shows that WoW gamers were spending less time playing other titles, a much lower crossover engagement than in previous months. Gamers were spending more time on the MMORPG, which can also be seen in the increasing average session time. The monitor also shows that the share of people who stopped playing WoW is significantly lower than in the past few months. WoW’s jump pushed Minecraft, CS:GO, and Hearthstone down one spot each, with Hearthstone losing the most players to the game. Most striking, however, was the large number of churned League of Legends players who are now playing WoW. More detailed information on churn franchises, crossover engagement, session times, and general performance of PC games in several countries can be found in our monthly PC Games Market Monitor.

rainbow six: siege rapidly rises in ranking

Last month, Rainbow Six: Siege made its debut at #15 in the Top 20 core PC games. In September, the game performed even better, climbing six places to #9. After treating existing Siege players to fresh content and introducing new players to the game by offering discounts in August, Ubisoft continues to support and nourish the growing community. There were several improvements to the game, such as the recent Mid-Season Reinforcements update, which offered new gadgets, attachments, and bug fixes. Ubisoft has also stated that it will support Rainbow Six: Siege (among others) for years to come. This statement was followed by two separate discounts on Steam and in Ubisoft’s own “PC Game sale”.

Ark: survival evolved makes giant leap from #18 to #11

While WoW made an impressive leap and Siege climbed the most rapidly, the game that gained the most spots (from #18 to #11) was Ark: Survival Evolved. At the beginning of September, the survival game was in the Steam Sale with a 40% discount. In that same week, Studio Wilcard also offered a few updates, such as the Scorched Earth DLC. This expansion pack included a whole new desert map, a new boss, new creatures to discover, and new items to find.

Rocket League, which had a 25% discount on Steam for four days in September, gained a spot to reach #8. The game also added a lot of new features, including the Rumble Update. Rocket League: Rumble features wacky power-ups that players can use to fight opponents, including spikes, plungers, grappling hooks, and a giant boot to kick fellow cars with.

Battlefield 4 and euro truck simulator 2 back in action

Some other notable changes occurred in the bottom half of the top 20. Garry’s Mod dropped three places to #13, though this may reverse next month when Valve releases a big update in October. Dota 2 and the multiplayer version of GTA: San Andreas Multiplayer both continued to decline, dropping four spots each. Finally, we welcomed back two familiar titles in our top 20: Battlefield 4 at #17 and Euro Truck Simulator 2 at #20. EA temporarily made all five Battlefield 4 DLC’s available for free on all platforms, including PC, which triggered new players to play the FPS. For ETS 2, the 1.25 update fixed some bugs and upgraded a few features to improve the overall truck driving experience.