Most Played Games in 2025 – Ranked by Average Monthly Players

While there’s been no shortage of games released over the past few years, you might be surprised to learn that the majority of the most played games in 2025 are actually much older. Here, we’re recapping the top 10, which we’ve based on data provided by various analytics sites, including Activeplayer.io, Statista, and MMO-Population.

Editor’s note: We updated this article as of February 19, 2025, to accurately reflect the most up-to-date player count data available. Additionally, the metric used to rank games on this list has recently been changed from peak concurrent players to average monthly active players. We believe this better indicates the most played games of the current year.

It’s worth noting that these figures aren’t official and are only estimates. Also, certain games are likely to appear more popular than others purely because they are available on a greater number of platforms — especially those that have mobile releases.

10. Apex Legends – 62 Million

• Release date: February 2019
• Developer: Respawn Entertainment
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
• Review
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 185k
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 100

Respawn’s Apex Legends stealth dropped out of nowhere and then proceeded to take the battle royale genre by storm. It proved the perfect recipe of compelling gameplay, AAA production quality, and a free-to-play business model that saw it succeed in temporarily dethroning Fortnite and PUBG as the most-played and most-watched multiplayer games.

Since an opening month that saw 2 million concurrent players, the community has stuck around and helped build a player base of 60 million active monthly users. It’s safe to say that Apex has muscled its way into the genre and secured its place as one of the most-played games of 2025.

Still, through 2024, player counts had been dropping a bit and, in our latest ranking, Apex Legends has dropped a couple of places. This might be, perhaps, because the whole battle royale genre has gone a bit stale lately. Perhaps Apex needs a shot of fresh blood in its arms?

9. Counter-Strike 2 – 65 Million

• Release date: September 2023
• Developer: Guerrilla Games
• Platforms: PC
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 598k
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 10

Counter-Strike is an FPS franchise that just won’t quit. On May 8, 2023, the tactical team-based shooter saw its highest-ever concurrent player numbers, topping 1.8 million concurrent users, according to SteamDB. That would be hugely impressive for any modern game. However, the remarkable part is that CS has been cranking out this sort of performance for a full decade now.

A strong esports presence and the brand power created by a franchise that’s been around since the late 1990s have kept CS ahead of newer releases. It remains especially popular in Europe, with countries like Russia contributing massively to the overall size of an active community that totals over 50 million active monthly players.

Since its abrupt transition from CS: GO to CS:2, despite players’ many complaints, the game has kept growing and growing. In January 2024, it even had 12 million different players in a day, making it the most-played game on Steam at some point. That’s not too bad, considering it only had half of that two months prior.

Since then, Valve has kept ironing out the game, and the player figures reflect that. CS:2 remains the most popular game on Steam, with over 650 million hours played each month. Dota 2, PUBG, Apex, and the like are losing the race fast. The question is, can CS:2 leave a bigger legacy than CS: GO? At this point, we definitely believe so.

8. Genshin Impact – 65 Million

• Release date: September 2020
• Developer: MiHoYo
• Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, Android, iOS
• Review
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 200k
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 4 (co-op)

When Twinfinite reviewed Genshin Impact back in 2020, we knew it was something special. The genius fusion of Zelda-like exploration, anime-esque storytelling, and excellent role-playing mechanics was just too good not to succeed — especially not when it was all entirely for free! But did we suspect Genshin Impact would go on to become one of the biggest gaming franchises? Certainly not.

When you look at how developer miHoYo has supported the game since its launch, though, it’s perhaps not so surprising to see just why its audience loves the experience so much. An incredible amount of new content has been added, featuring all-new storylines, characters, areas to explore, and all sorts of different events and challenges fleshing out the package. It’s even brought me back to the gacha action throughout the years, just to see what’s next for the beloved characters.

The quality of the Genshin Impact experience has seen over 60 million players logging into the game each month, earning it the status of the most-played gacha in 2025. That being said, with the China-based studio’s Honkai: Star Rail, making waves right now, its numbers have been falling slightly in 2024 and we think they will continue to fall in 2025. Fans might want to embark on another adventure that’s cut from the same cloth as its predecessor.

7. Call of Duty Warzone – 68 Million

• Release date: March 2020
• Developer: Raven Software, Infinity Ward
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 200k
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 66

The Call of Duty franchise has always been a behemoth of the video game industry, but its popularity skyrocketed to all-new heights when the franchise launched a free-to-play, battle royale spin-off. Warzone has risen to become one of the most popular titles in the world in record time, which is why it made it to our list of the most-played games in 2025.

The Warzone 2 (now just Warzone) community is enormous and spread across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms — though it’s surely most played as a console experience where the franchise has always been very popular. In 2024 alone, Warzone has grown steadily in players, surpassing even Counter Strike 2 in popularity.

This might be because of the ever-popular Zombies mode or the attention that Raven Software is always putting in each new Season and patch. But, of course, we can’t forget that Warzone simply brings that perfect experience of multiplayer war action that just won’t stop being popular with players around the world.

6. Rocket League – 85 Million

• Release date: July 2015
• Developer: Psyonix
• Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Review
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 300k
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 8

Who would’ve thought that a game mixing cars and soccer would become such a huge hit? It should be no surprise that Rocket League is one of the most played games in 2025, and of all the games on this list, it’s the most consistent at keeping its players. The numbers over on the Rocket League activeplayers.io page certainly indicate that.

That probably has to do with the fact that since its release back in 2015, Rocket League has delivered its players the most thrilling sports action on the market, sweeping the floor with FIFA, Madden, NBA 2K, and the like.

On a side note, though, Rocket League is also one of the games where your friends will rage at you the most (I can’t hit a ball in the air to save my life). Yet, I still haven’t refused a game invite to this day.

5. League of Legends – 130 Million

• Release date: October 2009
• Developer: Riot Games
• Platforms: PC
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 200k
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 16

According to Riot Games, League of Legends is played by around 8 million people almost every single day. Now, this could be an inflated number, considering how popular the game is in China, where there are 29 servers alone (more than all the other servers combined).

As is the case with CS:2, a strong esports scene has helped League of Legends to hold onto its community, which routinely turns up in the millions to watch competitive tournaments online. Despite the game being one of the oldest on this list, having been released more than fifteen years ago, LoL just won’t stop welcoming new players and retaining veterans as well.

Additionally, if you take a quick peek at activeplayer.io‘s latest stats, you’ll see that the beloved team-based game is still a huge hit on Twitch, with 95 million hours of streams being watched over the last 30 days. A great number for a game that’s almost old enough to buy alcohol. There is no denying that League of Legends is still one of the most-played MOBAs in the world.

4. Minecraft – 170 Million

• Release date: November 2011
• Developer: Mojang Studios
• Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, Android, iOS
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 900k
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 10 (on a Minecraft Realm)

Minecraft is a juggernaut that just keeps on rolling. The unending freedom to create, explore, and interact with other players in the Overworld makes it less of a game and more of a metaverse to just hang out in. Such is the depth of different community-driven experiences you can have within Minecraft. It’s popular for different reasons for different people, from constant updates to fun-filled DLCs. In any case, there are a lot of fans out there.

Back in 2015, when Minecraft’s monthly active users were around 40 million, the game logged an incredible 1.4 million concurrent players. The game’s population is now more than five times as large! With that said, it comes as no surprise to see it on this list of the most-played games of 2025.

Even more so, players (including myself) are always inclined to go back to expand their worlds further or create an all-new universe from scratch. However, the biggest issue, for me at least, seems to be keeping the whole crew together, as none of our servers manage to last more than a month.

3. Roblox – 200 Million

• Release date: September 2006
• Developer: Roblox Corporation
• Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Android, iOS.
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 3M
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 10

Roblox has skyrocketed in popularity since its launch back in 2006, especially over the past five or so years. Back in 2016, CEO David Baszuski proudly touted 700,000 concurrent players and declared that the 1 million milestone wasn’t far from the corner. Fast forward to 2020, and Roblox’s 7th Annual Bloxy Awards saw an incredible 4 million players watching in-game concurrently.

In terms of monthly active players, the number is obviously larger. Much larger. Roblox has a consistent player base of about 200 million across PC and mobile devices. Like Minecraft, people love it for its almost metaverse quality in that it delivers all manner of different gameplay experiences, the majority of them designed by members of its community.

All these years after its release, in 2025, Roblox is going as strong as ever. It set a record of 6 billion registered accounts in May 2024 and more than 9 million experiences, with new ones being released each day. Games such as Brookhaven and Blox Fruits often have more than 600k concurrent players, and if you were to consider them MMOs, they’d easily be some of the most popular MMOs on the planet.

2. Fortnite – 230 Million

• Release date: July 2017
• Developer: Epic Games
• Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 1.7M
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 100

Whether you love it or hate it, one thing is for sure: Fortnite is the biggest and most popular battle royale played outside of China. It will surely go down in history as one of the most important and innovative games ever created, and that’s mostly due to Epic Games’ ability to redefine what it means to make and support a live service game.

Fortnite is a constantly shifting entity, remolding itself with different features and gimmicks as new trends emerge. It’s essentially a new game every month, thanks to its battle pass content. Plus, it’s also managed to embed itself into the pop culture zeitgeist by collaborating with musicians and celebrity figureheads to stay relevant. You can add in the OG Fortnite update as well, bringing back veteran players for the exclusive event.

During the Astronomical Concert back in 2020, Fortnite set a 12.3 million concurrent player peak as players flocked to watch Travis Scott debut a new single. Epic Games doesn’t tend to really talk about player numbers outside of these big events, but estimates of the game’s average monthly players are somewhere around 220 million.

1. PUBG – 250 Million

• Release date: December 2017
• Developer: PUBG Studios
• Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, Android, iOS
• Review
• Active players from ActivePlayer: 30M
• Max number of players in a multiplayer lobby: 100

The game that kicked off a frenzy that saw the entire multiplayer gaming landscape reshaped over the past few years, PUBG still commands a huge audience despite the battle royale genre becoming flooded with copycat titles.

The most notable one is Epic Games’s Fortnite, which still towers over it in terms of player count outside of Asia. At the time Fortnite launched, PUBG still had a premium model, and it wasn’t even on consoles, which caused it to start losing the race. However, everything changed once it went F2P and launched its mobile version.

PUBG now once again rules not only the battle royale roost but the coveted title of the most played game in the world in 2025—according to activeplayer.io, anyway. If we’re honest, we’re a bit skeptical of the data. The numbers don’t seem to align with what we see on Steam charts for daily and monthly concurrent players, especially since PUBG gets beaten by Counter Strike 2 every time.

There is no denying that PUBG does impressive numbers, around 500,000 on big days, but still nowhere what you would expect if there truly are that many monthly players. Perhaps, it’s because the player base is huge on mobile. An AppAnnie report in 2019 estimated monthly player figures for the mobile version were upward of 100 million (not including China), but that was before the game was banned in India, a region where it was massively popular. We’ll continue to research the data and update this article where we can.