PlayStation Gameplay Chart: Single-player games return over Christmas and New Year break

By Kes Eylers-Stephenson,

There are big risers up the chart: the Christmas and New Year break certainly does strange things to game-playing habits. This is our top 40 PlayStation Gameplay Chart for the week ending January 2nd, 2022.

Position	Game	Publisher	Last week
1	Fortnite	Epic Games	1
2	Grand Theft Auto V	Rockstar Games	2
3	FIFA 22	Electronic Arts	4
4	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	Activision	3
5	Call of Duty: Vanguard	Activision	5
6	Rocket League	Psyonix	6
7	Apex Legends	Electronic Arts	7
8	Minecraft	Mojang Studios	8
9	Genshin Impact	miHoYo	10
10	Destiny 2	Activision	9
11	Battlefield 2042	Electronic Arts	11
12	Marvel's Spider-Man	Sony Interactive Entertainment	12
13	Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales	Sony Interactive Entertainment	14
14	Overwatch: Origins Edition	Blizzard Entertainment	16
15	Assassin's Creed Valhalla	Ubisoft	15
16	Red Dead Redemption 2	Rockstar Games	17
17	Ghost of Tsushima	Sony Interactive Entertainment	24
18	Far Cry 6	Ubisoft	23
19	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege	Ubisoft	18
20	LEGO DC Super-Villains	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	13
21	Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War	Activision	20
22	Dead by Daylight 1/2	505 Games	19
23	Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout	Devolver Digital	25
24	NBA 2K22	2K Sports	26
25	Among Us	Maximum Games	21
26	Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy	Square Enix	30
27	The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	CD Projekt	29
28	Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn	Square Enix	27
29	It Takes Two	Electronic Arts	35
30	Final Fantasy VII Remake	Square Enix	22
31	Astro's Playroom	Sony Interactive Entertainment	32
32	Horizon Zero Dawn	Sony Interactive Entertainment	39
33	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	Bethesda Softworks	33
34	Godfall	Gearbox Publishing	28
35	Madden NFL 22	Electronic Arts	38
36	Warframe	Digital Extremes	34
37	Kena: Bridge of Spirits	Ember Lab	RE
38	The Last of Us Part II	Sony Interactive Entertainment	RE
39	FIFA 21	Electronic Arts	36
40	Call of Duty: Black Ops III	Activision	RE

Chart compiled using gameplay data from over 813,000 active PlayStation accounts. Chart information is copyright TrueGaming Network.

Christmas and New Year have yielded the exact same number one, only now it is more dominant than ever! That game is, of course, Fortnite. With the children off school (and the child-like adults off work), it's clear that the free-to-play battle royale title has mopped up the rest of the competition. The numbers reveal an order of magnitude in difference, as Fortnite was played by 45% more gamers in the break than the next best on the list: Grand Theft Auto V (don't forget to grab your free dollars!). FIFA 22 and Modern Warfare's Warzone mode are not that far behind, but the step down from Modern Warfare to Vanguard is a substantial 25% drop. The rest of the top ten is occupied by the same batch of games as always: Rocket League, Apex Legends, Minecraft, Genshin Impact, and Destiny 2. Perhaps most interestingly of all is the absence of Battlefield 2042, which is struggling to maintain a player base as successfully as the other titles at the top of the chart — EA's FPS has around 50% of the player count of Call of Duty.

If there was any doubt about what game and character is a system seller on PS5 titles, look no further than Spider-Man and Miles Morales at 12 and 13, respectively. The PS5 launch title is rocking better PS5 numbers than PS4, while Spider-Man has fantastic numbers for the PS5 remastered version. Miles Morales has really been the guiding star of the opening year of the PS5, and this re-rise to 13th only confirms that. Ghost of Tsushima in 17th absolutely deserves a mention too, with its fairly even PS5 and PS4 player split. It seems fans have flocked straight back as soon as they had the time to complete Sucker Punch's samurai action-adventure, suggesting that Spider-Man isn't the only IP from PlayStation's catalogue of exclusives that can hold its own.

Slightly further down the list, we see big single-player titles with returning players make a push. In particular, here, we are looking at Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (26), The Witcher 3 (27), It Takes Two (29), and Horizon (32). All three have become must-plays, either in recent years or more recently, and it seems that players have been happy to pick them back up as time frees up and families draw closer. Of these, we would note that It Takes Two might have expected a higher position on the list given that the game won GOTY at TGAs this year — but with eight weeks spent in the chart since release and three in consecutive order, it's not a bad rebound at all. Shout out to both Kena: Bridge of Spirits and the Last of Us: Part II, as well. Both have re-entered the chart after a little while out of the game, and Kena is dominating on PS5.

That's your lot for this week! Anything you have noticed? Any big surprises? Please drop all enquiries and observations in the comments, and we will endeavour to answer them all.

Chart

Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Editor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and other gaming news. He writes about PS5 exclusives like The Last of Us and Horizon, PS Plus news, and his favorite games — The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, and God of War — before an evening swim.