Popular PlayStation Games — July 17th, 2022 By Lee Brady, 18 Jul 2022 FollowtopicsLee Brady Fall Guys remains unshakeable at the top of the charts, Crash Bandicoot continues to hold firm to the top ten, and something far more insidious crawls into the charts off the back of PlayStation Stars.This week, the real star of the show is not our abominable bean-like overlords Fall Guys with their newly-earnable platinum, nor our impossible to master marsupial challenger Crash Bandicoot 4, but a debut at the very bottom of the list — a paid platinum trophy game called Frogo.Frogger would be rolling in his grave — if Konami would ever let him die, anyway.Honestly — where do you begin with this? Sure, we joke and we laugh about the whole paid-for platinum thing, because it is very weird, and weird things can be funny. In our community, the idea of paying for trophies is a fascinating novelty, and some of our members have even been able to defend the idea fairly decently in the past. However, there's just something about a zero-budget Frogger clone cracking the top 40 popular PlayStation games that feels impossible to defend.What even inspired this sudden rise in popularity for pay-to-win platinum games? Well, one theory is the recently announced PlayStation Stars — Sony's upcoming loyalty reward scheme for PS4 and PS5 players. Players will soon be able to earn trophies in exchange for in-store currency — so perhaps some hyper-zealous trophy hunters leapt at the chance to play Frogger for funds?Rewards, indeed.Hopefully, Sony crack down on this onslaught of rubbish paid-for games in the near future before the Stars system sends the PlayStation Store and our top 40 into utter disarray. Sony just dodged the threat of PlayStation Stars NFTs, but it looks like there's still more work to be done before this new system kicks off.Elsewhere, in less depressing sections of the chart, Warframe enters the top 40 for the first time, presumably benefitting from the renewed interest brought to it by new DLC announced at TennoCon, and, of course, the intrigue drummed up by its spiritual successor, Soulframe. God of War continues to do well as players rush to catch-up before Ragnarok unleashes its shiny new PS5 exclusive features in a few months time. Finally, after two weeks of steady progress at the lower end of the charts, it seems two weeks was all players needed to wrap up Cuphead's latest DLC — which is pretty fair, all considered.Here are the top 40 popular PlayStation games for the week ending July 17th, 2022.Most played PlayStation games (w/e July 17th, 2022)PositionGamePublisherLast week1 Fall GuysEpic Games12 FIFA 22Electronic Arts33 FortniteEpic Games24 Call of Duty: Modern WarfareActivision55 Grand Theft Auto VRockstar Games66 Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About TimeActivision47 Apex LegendsElectronic Arts78 Elden RingBandai Namco Entertainment89 Rocket LeaguePsyonix910 MinecraftMojang Studios1011 Genshin ImpactmiHoYo1412 Destiny 2Bungie1113 Ghost of TsushimaSony Interactive Entertainment1214 Horizon Forbidden WestSony Interactive Entertainment1315 NBA 2K222K Sports1516 Gran Turismo 7Sony Interactive Entertainment1617 Red Dead Redemption 2Rockstar Games1818 Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles MoralesSony Interactive Entertainment1719 Assassin's Creed ValhallaUbisoft1920 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six SiegeUbisoft2021 Dead by DaylightBehaviour Interactive2222 Call of Duty: VanguardSony Interactive Entertainment2123 God of WarSony Interactive Entertainment Europe2524 Overwatch: Origins EditionBlizzard Entertainment2425 Marvel's Guardians of the GalaxySquare Enix2626 The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of MedanBandai Namco Entertainment2327 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarActivision2828 ReturnalSony Interactive Entertainment2729 Marvel's Spider-Man RemasteredSony Interactive Entertainment2930 Call of Duty: Black Ops IIIActivision3131 Battlefield 2042Electronic Arts3032 Final Fantasy XIVSquare Enix3233 WarframeDigital Extremes-34 Cyberpunk 2077CD Projekt3635 Mortal Kombat 11Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment3736 DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUTSony Interactive Entertainment3337 The Crew 2Ubisoft3538 Yu-Gi-Oh! Master DuelKonami Digital EntertainmentRE39 EA SPORTS UFC 4Electronic Arts3940 FrogoZakym-Chart compiled using gameplay data from over 831,000 active PlayStation accounts. Chart information is copyright GameInsights.If you want to shake the shame of having paid for platinum trophies off, perhaps consider checking out our list on the easiest platinum trophies on PS Plus right now. Otherwise, that's it for this week's chat — let us know what you think! Any insights that have rocked your world? Appalled by the whole paid-for platinum thing? Let us know in the comments below.Chart Written by Lee BradyStaff Writer Lee keeps one eye on the future (Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), one eye on the past (PS Plus Premium, recent Sony news), and his secret third eye on the junk he really likes (Sonic Superstars, Final Fantasy XVI). Then he uses his big mouth to blurt out long-winded opinions about video games.