The 20 core PC Game Rankings remain stable at the Summit, with Riot’s League of Legends at Rank 1, followed by Wargaming’s World of Tanks and Mojang’s Minecraft at Rank 3. These three titles have remained Top 3 since we began recording the rankings in April 2014. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, Valve’s Counter Strike: Global Offensive and NCSoft’s Guild Wars 2 (Rank 4, 5 and 6 respectively) have stayed unchallenged since September 2014. This has given the PC Game Rankings a veneer of relative calm at the top over the past few months- a stability that is now under attack with the arrival of the New Year.

The Power of Smite



In November 2014 HiRez Studio’s Smite entered the Rankings at Number 18. We noted in our November 2014 report the company’s serious investment in the eSports arena, empowered by a substantial investment by Tencent and the crowd funding towards its World Championship prize pool. You can find out more about the eSports economy, audience & trends here.

It’s no surprise then to see Smite smash through the rankings, rising 11 places to take Rank 7, an almost unprecedented rise in the number of unique sessions in just a single month – dethroning Dota2 as the runner-up MOBA to LoL in the process. HiRez Studios has not only seen their World Championship prize pool risen to become the third largest eSports prize pool in history ($2.5 Million) but registrations for their Xbox Open Beta have officially opened. This is obviously a serious challenge to the overall dominance of League of Legends and Dota 2 in the MOBA space as neither of these titles have (or are currently planning) a console version.

The Clash of Competitive Titles



The top 10 ranking is dominated by titles that are excelling on the competitive gaming front, with three MOBAs in the mix. In the next few weeks we can expect further competition and movement from the eSports titles as Blizzards contribution, Heroes of the Storm, will be entering closed beta on January 13th. Having been in technical alpha for some time, pundits have seen the title as more casual friendly, with less emphasis on technical skill and complexity. With Blizzards powerful branding and strong core player following Heroes of the Storm has as much potential as Smite to upset the current dominion of eSports by LoL and Dota2.



Blizzard isn’t just waging war on eSports. It’s casual friendly card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has risen 2 places to Rank 8, riding the release success of its most recent expansion ‘Goblins vs. Gnomes’. It’s telling that Hearthstone has been not only the only card game title on the Top 20 Rankings, but now ranks in the Top 10.

It isn’t all good news for Blizzard as Diablo 3 fell another 5 places to Rank 19 as it’s player base continue to wait in vain for the long hyped expansion Ruins of Secheron

Indie Wins, MMORPG Woes



Indie studio Freejam Games’s Robocraft has continued its ascension on the Rankings, rising 5 places to Rank 14. The title continues to accrue positive reviews on Steam, and recently won ‘Indie Game of the Year’ on IndieDB.

December 2014 was on the whole a disappointment for MMORPG unique sessions. Despite Blizzard’s World of Warcraft holding steady at Rank 4 other titles did not fare so well, with Trion World’s ArcheAge falling 5 places to Rank 13. The title has been plagued with problems from the community with everything from its F2P model to its PVP game play. Despite a new expansion EA’s Star Wars: The Old Republic fell 1 place to Rank 11, with WarThunder declining to Rank 17. It’s telling that, possibly pushed by December Sales, Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim enters the Ranking at Rank 20 – with their MMO The Elder Scrolls Online nowhere to be seen.

Find more information on the eSports market and audience here.

About Overwolf

Overwolf is a customizable in-game overlay platform that has been installed in over 8 million PCs. This community of hardcore PC gamers are consistently making their own apps within the Overwolf platform and sharing them. Why? Because it’s super simple and it enhances the gameplay experience of anyone’s favorite title in a personal way. From in-game chat systems to customized controls, streaming or video capture, Overwolf allows users to implement their own visions into these games and do so in a timely manner.

About Newzoo

Newzoo is the leading global market research firm focused purely on the games market. The company provides its clients with a mix of primary consumer research, transactional data and financial analysis across all continents, screens and business models. It is also known for actively sharing a variety of insights by means of free trend reports, infographics, blogposts and monthly rankings. Newzoo’s clients include Tencent, SEGA, Logitech, Wizards of the Coast, Nvidia, Microsoft, EA, Coca-Cola and Visa/PlaySpan.