Top 100 most played games on PS4 and PS5 by PS-Timetracker | March 2021

Hi everyone!

Based on the works of /u/s0vs0v, I decided to make this thread on r/PS5 about the top 100 played games by PS4 players.

https://ps-timetracker.com/statistic/2021/3

I've done the same thread for PS5 only, this thread takes the entire playerbase combined (PS4+PS5).

As a reminder, this comes from a panel of voluntary gamers who applied to have their time tracked by a bot. If you want to be a part of this, all you have to do is to add "ps-timetracker15" as a friend on PSN and that's it!

Disclaimer: This does not represent the full picture of the entire PS5 playerbase, and only shows trends based on a non-representative sample of the PS5 owners.

Here's the top 100 most played games on PS4 and PS5 in March, based on 22105 active and voluntary PlayStation users:

Analysis

• Thanks to the launch of Season 6, titled Primal, Fortnite reclaimed the top spot in March, being #1 in hours played, #1 in players (25.7% of all players started it at least once that month!) and #1 in sessions played. While it struggles a bit more on PS5, Fortnite is the undisputed king on PS4.
• The podium is completed by two other BR games: Apex Legends, which loses its top spot from February and falls to second place, and Modern Warfare (which adds all Warzone players alongside the regular MP of the game). No big surprises here – big free games that attract a lot of players, and despite all people who shout at Activision for leaving Warzon in a poor state – well, the numbers do talk. We must know that those games, despite their obvious flaws, manage to create a sense of desire and addiction, that can overcome the usual flaws.
• F2P games are still dominant in the top with the big 6 in the top 11: the aforementioned podium, Rocket League at #7, Genshin Impact at #10 (which got its 1.4 update in March) and Destiny 2 at #11. For that one, 31% of the total playtime was done on PS5, helped by its next-gen version which runs at 4K60.
• In the rest of the top 10, we notice the usual staples: Black Ops Cold War, FIFA 21, GTA V (not so bad for a 8 year-old game), Minecraft and Rainbow Six Siege. The multiplayer flagship from Ubisoft got a free play week in march, which boosted its player count by 20% compared to February.
• Let's now talk about the free games of the month:
  • Without surprise, Final Fantasy VII Remake is the biggest one, setting at spot #12. To be honest, I expected it to rank higher, due to the fact that never a AAA game of this caliber was released that early on Plus, merely 11 months after its initial release. I do think many players already played it and bought it, and didn't have the need to revisit it that early. Also, the fact that the offer isn't eligible to the PS5 upgrade might have had an impact on the downloads. But still, it's the strongest debut for a Plus game since Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Also, it managed to retain its players for quite a bunch of time: each player who started it at least once played it for 11 hours in average. A very good score for a PS+ freebie.
  • Not that far behind, Remnant: From The Ashes overperforms compared to expectations. Its number of players is basically equal to FF7R (14.3% of the sample) and they played the game for an average of 8 hours, which is also very good compared to the standard of PS+ games. That looter shooter was much less known than many titles of the top and was mostly overlooked at release, and this PS+ offer clearly brought it into the light. A very delight surprise for many PlayStation gamers.
  • Despite being free for the entire month and for the entire playerbase (no PS+ required), Ratchet & Clank only ends up at #21. There's a few reasons to this: the fact that the game was already offered on Plus in 2018, it's already present in the PS+ collection, and being a solo adventure with a relatively easy platinum trophy (minus that dance-related trophy), it's finished relatively quickly with very few incentives to replay it. However, at the very end of the month, a 60 fps patch dropped by surprise on PS5. And the upcoming release of Rift Apart in June will definitely incitate some players to revisit the saga.
  • That makes the performance of Subnautica incredible – it's by far the most popular game of the second batch of the Play at Home games. It barely finishes in front of R&C, in 20th place despite being free only at the end of the month. With nearly 15% of the player base that downloaded it and played at least once in these few days, its performance is definitely remarkable. The underwater survival game definitely grabbed some fans here.
  • Finally, a bit further in the rankings, Enter The Gungeon managed to snatch the 60th place, and was downloaded and played by 9% of the sample size. Its average time per player is only 2 hours and 20 minutes, but it went free at the end of the month an the difficulty is quite high, being a rogue-like.
• Some previous PS+ offerings are still alive and kicking: Fall Guys rejuvenated itself a little bit with the launch of its season 3, placing at #23. A good amount of players kept playing Control in March, only losing 13 slots and finishing 27th. Even Hollow Knight, which was free in November, is still present.
• A few games benefitted from a sizeable boost of players. Watch Dogs Legion quadrupled its player base from February, thanks to a free week trial, just like Rainbow Six Siege. It climbs back to #34. A bit below, F1 2020 grabbed a bunch of F1 fans as the new season started IRL, gaining 14 spots and ending at #37. And Hunt: Showdown got a big update (1.5), which boasted the player count by 44% compared to February. Also, Marvel's Avengers and Yakuza: Like a Dragon came back into the top, but mostly thanks to PS5 players, who got an upgrade for these two games.
• A small note on the Rust Beta, which managed to get into the top despite a limited availability, and the Outriders demo, which offered a good starting taste of the full game that just released.
• As always, online MMOs and open world games are the most time-consuming. We have a bunch of dedicated FFXIV players in the sample, each one clocking over 50 hours of play time in average, allowing the game to grab the 25th spot! Just below The Elder Scrolls Online, in 24th, with over 37 hours per player. Destiny 2, ARK and Black Desert are also far above the 30 hours per player threshold. As a matter of comparison, for any game in the top 100, there was a playtime of 13 hours and 13 minutes in average.
• It's time to say goodbye to these games that were present in the top 100 in February, but no longer are in March:
  • Concrete Genie (was #27 – free PS+ game in February)
  • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint (was #62)
  • Hitman 3 (was #63)
  • Destruction AllStars (was #64 – free PS+ game only on PS5)
  • Need for Speed Payback (was #76)
  • Dark Souls: Remastered (was #83)
  • We Were Here (was #84 – was free for a few days in February)
  • The Sims 4 (was #86)
  • Vigor (was #87)
  • Conan Exiles (was #95)
  • Paladins (was #97)
  • Diablo 3 (was #98)
  • Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (was #99)

I hope you really enjoyed this analysis, and if you have any questions, feel free to post them below.

See you next month! 🙂