Most played Xbox 360 games of 2011 revealed

By Fred Dutton Published 6 January, 2012

Plus, Microsoft lists best selling XBLA titles.

More people logged on to Xbox Live to play Call of Duty: Black Ops during 2011 than any other game, Microsoft has revealed.

Call of Duty took the top three spots, with Modern Warfare 3 coming in second and Modern Warfare 2 in third.

Halo Reach followed in fourth, with Battlefield 3 in fifth.

12 out of the top 20 games were not released in 2011. The oldest title on the chart was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which was first released back in November 2007.

Here's the full chart as seen on Major Nelson's blog, based on global unique users:

  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
  2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
  3. Modern Warfare 2
  4. Halo: Reach
  5. Battlefield 3
  6. Skyrim
  7. Gears of War 3
  8. FIFA 12
  9. FIFA Soccer 11
  10. Madden NFL 12
  11. GTA IV
  12. NBA 2K11
  13. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
  14. Call of Duty 4
  15. Battlefield 3 Beta
  16. Halo 3
  17. Gears of War 2
  18. Forza Motorsport 4
  19. Red Dead Redemption
  20. Call of Duty: World at War

Nelson also listed the Xbox Live Arcade sales chart, which saw Pinball FX2 come out on top, followed by Full House Poker and chart perennial Castle Crashers. 2011 critical darlings From Dust and Bastion finished in fifth and 13th respectively.

Here's the complete top 20, based on full versions purchased:

  1. Pinball FX2
  2. Full House Poker
  3. Castle Crashers
  4. Fruit Ninja Kinect
  5. From Dust
  6. Trials HD
  7. Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
  8. Dead Rising 2: Case West
  9. Torchlight
  10. Toy Soldiers: Cold War
  11. Plants vs. Zombies
  12. Portal: Still Alive
  13. Bastion
  14. Limbo
  15. Game Room
  16. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
  17. Peggle
  18. Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale
  19. Battlefield 1943
  20. Beyond Good & Evil HD

And for all those keeping score, here are the top selling Xbox Live Indie Games of 2011 too:

  1. FortressCraft Chapter 1
  2. Total Miner: Forge
  3. The Impossible Game
  4. Avatar Paintball
  5. Toy Stunt Bike
  6. CastleMiner Z
  7. I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
  8. Avatar Legends
  9. CastleMiner
  10. Miner Dig Deep
  11. Avatar Laser Wars 
  12. Bird Assassin
  13. Voice Changer 360
  14. Nuclear Wasteland
  15. Avatar Karting
  16. Zombie Estate
  17. Avatar Drop
  18. Baby Maker Extreme 2
  19. College Lacrosse 2011
  20. The $1 Zombie Game
Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (66) Latest comment 4 months ago

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  • Spong #1 5 months ago

    "Call of Duty talk the three top spots..."

    Talk?

    EDIT
    And now you've corrected it, it just makes me look like some kind of raving lunatic.
    Edited by Spong at 07/01/12 @ 00:10

  • -cerberus- #2 5 months ago

    Five Call of Duty games... And then the fans bitch about yearly iterations, for which they've got no one to blame but themselves.

  • TazerFan #3 5 months ago

    You're telling me more people played COD: WaW than Batman: AC? Or Deus Ex? I know WaW had a 9 month head start on the recently released titles, but still...

    Bit of a depressing list.

  • mr_pink #4 5 months ago

    Well, if you did the same thing with films you'd probably see a load of Avatar & co populist gash at the top spots too.

  • ShiroBen #5 5 months ago

    Dear goodness they are all sequels. Gaming is dead.

    Although to be fair XBLA was excellent last year. If there is hope it lies with the proles. Um, indies.

  • mr_shoe_uk #6 5 months ago

    Skyrim is there, so this can't even be just multiplayer sessions,

    Kind of tragic?

  • threemoh #7 5 months ago

    @-cerberus- Unless much of each iteration's sales are to people who don't have any of the other four, of course.

  • -cerberus- #8 5 months ago

    @threemoh: Of course but what are the odds though? I think COD players are quite loyal, they must at least own two of the more popular releases (I'm guessing COD4 and MW2).

  • HL706 #9 5 months ago

    This makes me weep for 2012...

  • Po1ymorph #10 5 months ago

    My most played games of 2011 look nothing like those.

    I guess some people have really missed out on some great games last year.

  • Tiberius_Gracchus #11 5 months ago

    I would like to see Sony do a list like this. Probably unable to do it on PSN though(ps3 owner).

  • lolercopter #12 5 months ago

    Ten FPS in a top 20. Good grief. On a brighter note, Beyond Good & Evil scored the 20th spot on XBLA. Can we have BGE2 now, Ubi?
    Edited by lolercopter at 07/01/12 @ 03:22

  • bratmandu #13 5 months ago

    I'm glad the MWs are sucking all the dumbasses outta my Battlefield.

  • Collymilad #14 5 months ago

    Urgh.

    We really are fucked.

    And before the CoD fuckers start whining, BF3 pisses all over your shitty game. Goodbye.

  • sfp_noodle #15 5 months ago

    Wow only SIX out of those TWENTY games involved no shooting whatsoever. Tragic.

  • HeNiCiDe1988 #16 5 months ago

    man why the feck is modern warfare 2 still being played? Was worst junk of a game ever.

    But lol at MW3 being second to black ops :p Battlefield 3 doing alright suppose doesnt look like it had the impact on the 360 to push it into top 3, thought it would beat modernwarfare 2 at least thats a bit bad. But top 5 is great.

  • Triggerhappytel #17 5 months ago

    "But lol at MW3 being second to black ops :p"

    That's because MW3 was only available for two months, whereas Black Ops was available for the whole year.

    Anyway, quite a saddening list really, although the mass market has never really had interesting or diverse taste. Would be curious to see how this compares to PS3 and Wii though.

  • Spong #18 5 months ago

    Wow, the retail list makes for truly depressing reading. Who's to blame? People for wanting to just point at crap and shoot it, or the devs for pandering to such mindless shit?

  • Graftonator #19 5 months ago

    @HeNiCiDe1988 Black Ops had a 10 month head start on MW3 though, so of course it's been played more. Incredible to come second.

    @mr_pink Comparing COD to avatar is a bit harsh. If anything, COD is like the Saw movies (churned out often with minor tweaks) at least Avatar looked different!

    We can all live in hope that the people that were playing batman, deus ex etc. didn't want to be hassled so signed out of xbox live before playing. Can't we?!

  • whatfruit #20 5 months ago

    that top 20 xbox 360 games list makes me depreseed.

  • Raconteur #21 5 months ago

    It would also be interesting to see the average number of hours played on a game rather than the total, which is always biased towards high sales.

  • joelstinton #22 5 months ago

    Whats worse is that Companies will be using lists like these to form what they are going to do for the next generation of games. The first 6 months of the Nextbox release will be really depressing.

  • eminusx #23 5 months ago

    a surprising amount of non-gamers buy a 360 purely to play COD games on and arent interested in much else, so these figures come as no surprise, its just numbers, not a reflection of game-quality or representative of more committed gamers tastes.

    It is worrying how attractive these numbers will be to the bean counters and decision makers.
    Edited by eminusx at 07/01/12 @ 11:45

  • coolbritannia #24 5 months ago

    Really pisses me off when people dismiss a title as "another fps". Granted, all the COD titles play the same, each shooter series here features bloody brilliant gameplay that the others don't. Reach is just a superb campaign, and the Firefight modes are worth the £ alone. Gears 3 uses the cover system and Horde mode is fantastic (and a completely different animal to Firefight). Battlefield 3 is the best multiplayer available, the antithesis of the twitchy spammy gameplay of COD. It is thoughtful, considered, and relies on true team work.

    With Skyrim, GTA, Red Dead and Forza 4 in that list too, that's a cracking 2011.

  • IIJAZMANII #25 5 months ago

    I play pinball fx2 more than any other game on the 360. Game just rocks. Keep it up Zen.
    Its also the only game I buy dlc for without hesitation.

  • mr2ange #26 5 months ago

    Wow that is sad.

    More than 1/2 the list are fps's.

    my 360 are need more exclusives

    Edit: Ooh a load of negs, what a suprise!

    Seriously the next xbox should be called the X-FPS, What a fucking sad bunch of losers with single track minds... ooh shoot anything that moves... no wonder its so popular in the US.

    Fucking Pathetic.

    Edit 2: Well i can say that is the single most hilarious list i've ever seen. Given that people bitch about nintendo... At least they have a platformer AND an RPG in the list each time...

    You really did get one ass of a year didn't ya MS boys... Its ok, each neg i get just adds to the pity i lay upon thee...
    Edited by mr2ange at 08/01/12 @ 20:43

  • oupe #27 5 months ago

    @IIJAZMANII Yeah! Although I think 400 points for a single table is a bit steep (if I remember correctly)

    Incidentally I own 7 games from the XBLA list. Still love and play Outrun, Iron Brigade, Rez HD and that great tower defense game with the name I cannot remember.

  • IIJAZMANII #28 5 months ago

    @oupe: the tables are 240points each but some bunddles (marvel, vengence & virtue)are 800points for 4 tables, which is a bargain considering the replayability.

  • Ironic_War_Criminal #29 5 months ago

    Nerds: "WE WANNA PLAY SOMETHING NEW. GAMES INDUSTRY CONSTANTLY FUCKING US OVER. WAH WAH CALL OF DUTY"

    *Un-ironicallly Buys 4 different Minecraft clones on XBLIG*

  • dr_faulk #30 5 months ago

    Activision must be furious they're not getting a slice of the the Xbox-live subscription pie.

    But then again, they release a CoD every year for €60. It's practically the same.

  • DurzoBlint #31 5 months ago

    Black Ops over Modern Warfare 3? Wow.

  • yoomazir #32 5 months ago

    "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 "

    Never heard of this game, but the title only makes it full of win.
    Edited by yoomazir at 07/01/12 @ 18:00

  • NHDavid #33 5 months ago

    Fruit Ninja Kinect FTW!!!!!!!!!

  • Zozzilla #34 5 months ago

    Can't help but notice how it's a list of how many people logged into Live to play a game. Surely, then, if the game doesn't require you to be online people might not bother logging in, making this list irrelevant?

  • NeverEatYellowSnow #35 5 months ago

    @mr2ange

    You need to slap yourself.

  • mr2ange #36 5 months ago

    @NeverEatYellowSnow "You need to slap yourself."

    That would be much less painful than reading through the list again...
    Edited by mr2ange at 08/01/12 @ 11:34

  • KanePaws #37 5 months ago

    Shooter, shooter, sports, shooter, sports, sports, open-world role-playing game, shooter, shooter, shooter, sports.

    I don't know whether to be happy about Skyrim or sad about the other 19/20 most-played games. >_<

  • uninspiredcup #38 5 months ago

    So basically, it's Call Of Duty.

  • NeverEatYellowSnow #39 5 months ago

    @mr2ange

    Lol I really do pity you haha

  • thepark3r #40 5 months ago

    Is the oldest title not Halo 3? Sept 2007!?

  • Ironic_War_Criminal #41 5 months ago

    @mr2ange

    You shouldn't throw stones in glass houses considering how unimaginative and moronic fanboyism is. I mean, it's the ultimate comments section stereotype, the FPS of the comments section, if you will.

  • Slipstream #42 5 months ago

    This list made me vomit in my mouth a little.

  • BlinkeredAxis #43 5 months ago

    It's not a sad list. Even the CoD series is quite fun.

    To me, seeing Gears 3 and especially Halo:reach up there is fantastic. They both have excellent, addictive online modes. The level of support for Halo:Reach is a benchmark for other devs - they bend over backwards to keep the experience fun.

    Shooters won't go away, and I don't think that they should. There are loads of great games in Arcade and Indie anyway. Go on CoD fans, try one!* I recommend Warhammer 40K Kill Team, and it's not even in the chart :(

    *once the broken dashboard is fixed...

  • miiiguel #44 5 months ago

    if all the Xbox 720 will have are sports and shooter games i'm jumping ship next gen and will only own a PS4.

    Can you guess what was the game that sold more on PS3, ever ?

  • KingOfTheC #45 5 months ago

    This list is exactly what you would expect, surely.

    Sports games and shooters are pretty much built for online multi player, so it makes sense they would be the most played online.

    There's still been plenty of decent stuff released this year which sold well, so an xbox live list doesn't really mean anything.

  • mr2ange #46 5 months ago

    @Ironic_War_Criminal "You shouldn't throw stones in glass houses considering how unimaginative and moronic fanboyism is. I mean, it's the ultimate comments section stereotype, the FPS of the comments section, if you will. "

    Ok so it was a bit harsh, but seriously? I'm just saying that its a very sad day when over 50% of the most played games are either different versions of the same game or exceptionally similar games in the same genre.

    I for one am quite shocked at exactly how accurate the 360 stereotype really is.

    Whats worse, is there's a sodding BETA version in there... in the top 20..! i mean jesus...

    I cant see how anyone can see this as anything other than embarassing.


    Edit - Neg all you like but not one of you can make a case against what i've said above. Pitiful.
    Edited by mr2ange at 08/01/12 @ 13:51

  • Matthew_Hornet #47 5 months ago

    I'm sorry, but this is all just fucking depressing.

  • ruisranne #48 5 months ago

    Just had yesterday a Halo Reach lan party. Three big TVs, three xboxes and nine players. One room. Speed Halo, Griffball, King of the hill, classic slayer... The lot... Had the best time ever.

    But the top 3... Just makes you wonder why.

  • TOOTR #49 5 months ago

    Game room is in the top 15? Wow. I loved the concept but haven't gone back since the content dried up. Will it's placing push more interest?

  • TRUTH #50 5 months ago

    I wish Dark Souls was up there!...single/online play is the most original use in videogames in how they merge together. Players online can play alone but still be playing with or against others by some very original ideas: Leaving messages lies or truths about the gameworld, inviting players by leaving signs to come and help in there game, invading as a phantom into other peoples game to steal your souls, seeing ghost of other players playing the same area as you in there own sigleplayer game, stepping on bloodstains and watching other peoples death, exchanging items, naming and listing invaders (phantoms) once bought book; so once enough names gathered a Demon will be sent by the game to search for you!...Just amazing gaming experience online and off and the way they merge!

    Rpg/adventure/deep action fans should not miss this game.
    Edited by TRUTH at 08/01/12 @ 15:18

  • beastmaster #51 5 months ago

    I really don't see what all the fuss is about. Just because other people play lots of COD, FIFA, Gears etc. so fucking what? These games will always be popular and given time I expect to see more COD games in there.

    Won't stop you playing Skyrim, Battlefield, Dark Souls etc. You have fun, they have fun. Why do people get so upset? There may even come a time (if it's not already here) that the money generated may go into producing smaller, better games.

  • sfp_noodle #52 5 months ago

    @spacedelete

    You do make me laugh with your moronic indecisiveness. One minute you love your 360, the next your trading it in for a PS3, then you hate your PS3 and buy a 360 again and now you wanna jump ship again? Hilarious.

  • kwospecialk #53 5 months ago

    Reading this list makes me want to slit my wrists.

  • SwedBear #54 5 months ago

    Why are shooters taking so many top spots? It's because they are usually games that you play a lot online and thus rake up a lot of online minutes which in the end will mean that on a list like this they will come high up. A great game that maybe takes 10 hours to finish and you then do not play won't get as much minutes as a shooter where it is easy to get 20-30-40-50 hours of gameplay.

    Lets face it, shooters and sports games are competitive and a lot of people love to play competitive. Do we really think a list for the PS3 would be much different? And the only reason a list for the Wii would be different is because it sucks for fps and sports games.

    I like both weird games and fps-games and I certainly do not think one is better than the other.

  • mr2ange #55 5 months ago

    @SwedBear Are you saying that anything not classed as an fps is Weird?

    FYI Skyrim and Darksouls can take you way past the 100 hours mark, online or offline.

    I would love to see the PS3 equivalent of this list. - and i'm betting that less than 1/2 the games are made up of 2/3 franchises

    edit - nice trolling guys. real mature.
    Edited by mr2ange at 08/01/12 @ 23:05

  • metroid455 #56 5 months ago

    sigh how sad, the top five spots are all FPS, dont 360 gamers play anything else?
    Edited by metroid455 at 09/01/12 @ 03:20

  • thegogsunit #57 5 months ago

    I went on WaW a couple of weeks ago and there was something like 600 people playing online. Must have been a lot playing it the other 50 weeks of last year.

  • jarvisio #58 5 months ago

    It is a shame that Cthulhu Saves the World is not on the list of Indie games, it is almost criminal now as it is down to only 80 points!

  • jarvisio #59 5 months ago

    For all the disparaging comments from PS3 owners, be honest about what you think would be in the top 20 for the ps3? You don't think COD, Battlefield, Killzone, Resistance etc would be in it? Get over yourselves, FPS games are popular. Nobody is forcing you to play them and making out like you are some kind of cultured higher gamer because you don't lower yourselves to the lowest common denominator games (even though you proabably actually bought at least one FPS this year) like the great unwashed just makes you look like douchebags. Let people enjoy what they want, isn't that why we all got into gaming anyway? Have some respect.

  • ozzzy189 #60 5 months ago

    Pinball FX 2 was a free download, so it's bound to be high up on the list, you only paid for the tables. Having been into bf3 since launch, and recently seen a friend play mw3 multiplayer, i can't believe how many sheep keep buying that shallow turgid rubbish. It's a poor man's quake clone with normal weapons at best.

  • chrisjm #61 5 months ago

    mw3 is the first one ive played, sometimes you give into the hype and it exceeds your expectations.

  • geeza2020 #62 5 months ago

    Yuk, what a thoroughly uninspiring list. I can just imagine all the fucking corporate bean counters cumming in their pants over this lot though. Bunch 'o cunts that they are.

    Negged huh? Looks like I offended some spineless corporate bean counters. Mission accomplished.
    Edited by geeza2020 at 11/01/12 @ 10:16

  • TheGuvernor #63 5 months ago

    I think its great - for Activision, (the b'tards!)

  • tinners #64 4 months ago

    Yay, I hear the Facebook version of BLOPS is gonna be even better!

    * ends own life *


    I waited years on end after getting my speccy zx for gaming to go mainstream and this is how you repay me!!

  • seancswash #65 4 months ago

    A lot of these games are cross platform, I would hazard a guess that the PS3 list will be similar

  • metroid455 #66 4 months ago

    @LaFlamaBlanca
    really? the Wii has some of the best games this gen on any platform, and more original titles than the 360 will ever have. admittingly amongst all the shovelware crap developers actually took risks and tried new things. but hey to each their own (^^)
    Edited by metroid455 at 14/01/12 @ 05:33