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Most popular games on the Switch in Europe 2023 by player metrics

BTB123

BTB123

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Tears of the Kingdom fanatic
Nintendo Europe was so kind as to provide some neat information in the Switch News section on which games were played the most in 2023.

First off though they also shared the player's favorite games of 2023 as chosen by said players in their yearly reviews that Nintendo send out in December.
Note that the games don't need to have released in 2023, you need to have played a game to vote for it.

Your Favorite Games 2023:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
5. Pokémon Violet
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
7. Fortnite
8. Pokémon Scarlet
9. Splatoon 3
10. Disney Dreamlight Valley
11. Pikmin 4
12. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
13. Super Smash. Bros. Ultimate
14. Fire Emblem Engage
15. Super Mario Odyssey
16. Stardew Valley
17. Persona 5 Royal
18. Hogwarts Legacy
19. Metroid Prime Remastered
20. Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Most Played Games 2023:

They start off this article by announcing that there are now more than 10.000 games of all types on Switch. Incredible!

1. Fortnite
2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
3. Minecraft
4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
5. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
6. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
7. Pokémon Scarlet
8. Pokémon Violet
9. Rocket League
10. Fall Guys
11. Super Mario Odyssey
12. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
13. Hogwarts Legacy
14. EA Sports FC 24
15. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
16. Pokémon Unite
17. Nintendo Switch Sports
18. Splatoon 3
19. Mario Party Superstars
20. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
21. Disney Dreamlight Valley

Most Played Online-Multiplayer Games 2023:

1. Fortnite
2. Minecraft
3. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
5. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
6. Pokémon Scarlet
7. Pokémon Violet
8. Rocket League
9. Fall Guys
10. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
11. EA Sports FC 24
12. Pokémon Unite
13. Nintendo Switch Sports
14. Splatoon 3
15. Mario Party Superstars
16. Disney Dreamlight Valley
17. Asphalt 9: Legends
18. Super Mario Maker 2
19. Overwatch 2
20. Stardew Valley

Most Played Local Multiplayer Games 2023:

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
3. Super Mario Odyssey
4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
5. EA Sports FC 24
6. Nintendo Switch Sports
7. Mario Party Superstars
8. Super Mario Maker 2
9. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
10. Luigi's Mansion 3
11. Just Dance
12. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
13. Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition
14. Mario Strikers: Battle League Football
15. 51 Worldwide Games
16. Cuphead
17. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
18. It Takes Two
19. Vampire Survivors
20. Gang Beasts

Most Played Roleplaying Games 2023:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
2. Pokémon Scarlet
3. Pokémon Violet
4. Hogwarts Legacy
5. Super Mario RPG
6. Minecraft Dungeons
7. Fire Emblem Engage
8. Monster Hunter Rise
9. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
10. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
11. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
12. Diablo III: Eternal Collection
13. Persona 5 Royal
14. Octopath Traveler II
15. Immortals Fenyx Rising
16. Sea of Stars
17. ARK: Survival Evolved
18. Hades
19. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot + A New Power Awakens Set
20. Warframe

Most Played Strategy Games 2023:

1. Pokémon Scarlet
2. Pokémon Violet
3. Super Mario RPG
4. Pikmin 4
5. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
6. Fire Emblem Engage
7. Miitopia
8. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
9. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
10. Sid Meier's Civilisation VI
11. Persona 5 Royal
12. Octopath Traveler II
13. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
14. Minecraft Legends
15. Slay the Spire

Most Played Feel Good Games 2023:

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
2. Disney Dreamlight Valley
3. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
4. Luigi's Mansion 3
5. Stardew Valley
6. Pikmin 4
7. Suika Game
8. Fae Farm
9. Sky: Children of the Light
10. Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
11. Miitopia
12. Fashion Dreamer
13. Yoshi's Crafted World
14. Coloring Book
15. Dave the Diver
16. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
17. Go Vacation
18. Detective Pikachu Return
19. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
20. Unravel Two

What do you think of these rankings?

Source - https://nintendoeverything.com/nint...e-most-played-switch-games-in-europe-in-2023/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
"Most Played Strategy Games 2023:

1. Pokémon Scarlet
2. Pokémon Violet
3. Super Mario RPG
4. Pikmin 4"

It took until the fourth game to even get to a strategy game 🤨

Maybe half the games are strategy. Having some form of strategizing at all does not a strategy game. Genres are useless if the barest hint of another genre adds that label. Super Mario 64 is not a horror game because it has a ghost level.

There is some jank in general but this particular list is almost useless.
 
Pokemon is a strategy game in combat and in its VGC elements. But I dunno if I'd call it a strategy game for a list like this, an example of how some of these genre labels are just slapped onto games.
 
I must say Coloring Book showing up even ahead of Detective Pikachu is quite surprising.

These lists, even with some games being included where they gon't really fit, give us a good idea of how player engagement is accross different types of games relative to each other.
 
BTB123 said:
I must say Coloring Book showing up even ahead of Detective Pikachu is quite surprising.

These lists, even with some games being included where they gon't really fit, give us a good idea of how player engagement is accross different types of games relative to each other.
Click to expand...
And also Dave the Diver which had a good share of sales on Switch. I thought everyone was buying that to get into the free giveaway promos that one publisher does. I didn't expect many to play it for a serious amount of time.
 
it’s not that high but it’s good to see xenoblade making appearances… seems like a fair amount of people played the dlc. more than those who bought octopath 2 at least lol…

Splatoon 3 is kinda low but i guess this is europe, probs its weakest market
 
Astrogamer said:
And also Dave the Diver which had a good share of sales on Switch. I thought everyone was buying that to get into the free giveaway promos that one publisher does. I didn't expect many to play it for a serious amount of time.
Click to expand...
Looking it up Coloring Book is actually free. So that explains it.
 
This again shows the staying power of animal crossing. We hear a lot about how it’s success was so tied to covid and lockdowns and yet it’s sales and people playing it still seem so high.
 
@BTB123 having access myself to the Nintendo News items for european users, I'm not entirely sure that it's fully confirmed that the games featured in the different lists are necessarily ranked by the number of votes they received. Unless the wording on the English-tongued news is different (Italian user here), they just say that it's a selection of the most voted games in the different categories.
 
MarcoP90 said:
@BTB123 having access myself to the Nintendo News items for european users, I'm not entirely sure that it's fully confirmed that the games featured in the different lists are necessarily ranked by the number of votes they received. Unless the wording on the English-tongued news is different (Italian user here), they just say that it's a selection of the most voted games in the different categories.
Click to expand...
I'm German, it says exactly that: "Here are some of the games that got the most votes." And for other lists: "Here are some games, that were played the most in 2023."

Only the favorite games list was voted for.

That said, why would all the lists be basically in not only the most logical order in what you might expect was played the most, but also consistent across all of them? And Pokémon Violet and Scarlet would have been right next to each other in the favorites list.

So while they say that, if it was just a random order it would have looked different and they probably would have said so.
 
BTB123 said:
I'm German, it says exactly that: "Here are some of the games that got the most votes." And for other lists: "Here are some games, that were played the most in 2023."

Only the favorite games list was voted for.

That said, why would all the lists be basically in not only the most logical order in what you might expect was played the most, but also consistent across all of them? And Pokémon Violet and Scarlet would have been right next to each other in the favorites list.

So while they say that, if it was just a random order it would have looked different and they probably would have said so.
Click to expand...
After looking a bit more carefully at each list, the way the games are listed does indeed hint at them being in order of vote. At the very least, like you say, the order in most of them does look pretty logical.
Unfortunately, since Nintendo doesn't specify either way, we cannot have a full on confirmation that the rankings are ordered by the number of votes, but your assesment is sound. I guess the overcautious side of me must've taken over, I apologise.
 
MarcoP90 said:
After looking a bit more carefully at each list, the way the games are listed does indeed hint at them being in order of vote. At the very least, like you say, the order in most of them does look pretty logical.
Unfortunately, since Nintendo doesn't specify either way, we cannot have a full on confirmation that the rankings are ordered by the number of votes, but your assesment is sound. I guess the overcautious side of me must've taken over, I apologise.
Click to expand...
No need to apologize. It's important to be cautious.
 
BTB123 said:
They start off this article by announcing that there are now more than 10.000 games of all types on Switch. Incredible!

1. Fortnite
2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
3. Minecraft
4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
5. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
6. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
7. Pokémon Scarlet
8. Pokémon Violet
9. Rocket League
10. Fall Guys
11. Super Mario Odyssey
12. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
13. Hogwarts Legacy
14. EA Sports FC 24
15. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
16. Pokémon Unite
17. Nintendo Switch Sports
18. Splatoon 3
19. Mario Party Superstars
20. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
21. Disney Dreamlight Valley
Click to expand...
This shouldn't in order I guess?
 
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