Top o' the morning to you, my fellow TAers.
Welcome to this week's exciting Stats instalment. It is exciting, I promise: full of thrills and, indeed, spills. We're finally starting to see the big Autumn releases making their presence felt. Expect the numbers to get thoroughly shaken up over the next few weeks. Who will come out on top? Keep checking the Stats articles to find out.
This report is for the period September 17th to September 23rd 2012.
Games Started29,765 TrueAchievements gamers started a total of 40,112 games between them (1,618 different games).
Wow, just wow. I knew
Borderlands 2 would have a big impact on the numbers, but this is some serious domination. How big of an impact you say? Well, considering the game came out in the latter portion of the week, over 28 times the amount of people started it compared to the next game on the chart. Not impressive enough for you? Well over 7 times the amount of people started it than every other game on the chart
combined. Suck on those numbers!
Sports games make up the rest of this week's new releases, namely
F1 2012 and
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013. Even though
Borderlands 2's domination makes the other bars on the graph look miniscule, the numbers themselves aren't exactly impressive for either title, with well under 1000 starters for both. Other sports titles,
NHL 13 and
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, also stick around, making this week a really sporty one. However, all the balls, pucks and tyres in the world don't even come close to challenging the top spot.
After their titles bowed out last week, Ezio finally follows in Max Payne and Bruce Wayne's footsteps, releasing his grip on the chart and allowing
Assassin's Creed: Revelations to slip away. Requiescat in pace, Ezio. I also just realised that Max Payne and Bruce Wayne's names rhyme beautifully. They should start an odd-couple
Lethal Weapon-style spin off called Payne & Wayne. That. Would. Be. Awesome.
I also love that nearly 200 people went "Oh, hang on,
Borderlands 2 is out this week. I have to play the first one before I start that one!'"
Top Retail Games Started
Nostalgia is the order of the week in Arcade Games Started, as
Jet Set Radio speeds its way to the top and leaves a killer graffiti tag, smashing the competition. Rebooted wrestling classic
Fire Pro Wrestling slips into second, but with markedly less impressive numbers. The big draw for the game seems to be using your own avatar as a lycra-clad luchador. I'd only be interested if I could also bring in my Ewok Statistcles...as weapons.
Other new title
Realms of Ancient War struggles to make an impact on the numbers. The
Diablo/
Torchlight-esque dungeon crawler also struggled to make an impact on our
review-smith.
Fable Heroes may seem like a random entry as it's not like we had any sale articles for it. Looking closely, however, it apparently did receive a sneaky sale that even went under
our radars - and our radars are some of the best radars money can buy. In fact, it's still on sale now at 400 MSP, so grab it if you're interested. This is probably to stir up interest for the upcoming
Fable: The Journey and its cross-title bonuses.
Top Arcade Games Started
This week's
Deal of the Week title,
Tiki Towers (WP), steals the top spot from the new release,
Contre Jour (WP). With last week's new title,
Crimson Dragon: Side Story (WP), and DotW title,
Monster Island (WP), also hanging in strong.
I don't know about towers of
Tiki, but I did try to make a tower out of
Tikka once. It didn't end well...
Top Windows Phone Games Started
Games Completed6,115 TrueAchievements gamers completed a total of 8,423 games between them (1,193 different games).
Now that most people seem to have finished up the recent DLCs for
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,
Battlefield 3 and
Mass Effect 3,
Sleeping Dogs reclaims the top spot for Retail Games Completed, maintaining the 200+ completions it had enjoyed last week. Those DLC titles still make their presence known, however.
So 198 people started
Borderlands, and 163 people finished it. I wonder if any of those are the same people. That's dedication, Holmes! I also wonder when
Borderlands 2 will make its first appearance here: next week or the week after? Place your bets now.
Top Retail Games Completed
Last week I mentioned that, whilst
The Walking Dead continues to cling onto the top spot, the numbers are dropping off considerably week on week. This week sees another slump, with almost a third off the number of completions than last week. At this rate, it could easily lose its hold next week or the week after.
Will it continue to cling to the top spot or will we see it slip before the next episode is released (expected in October) and shoots it back to the top again? It's exciting stuff, right?!?
The expansion pack for
Magic: The Gathering - DotP 2013 allows it to jump to second place. However, all the magic it can muster doesn't have an effect on the undead horde.
Top Arcade Games Completed
Roll in the Hole (WP) continues to roll around the top of Windows Games Completed, with more people finishing it than having started it this week. The current completion percentage for the game remains at around 68%, however. Maybe it isn't the new
Collapse! (WP) I was hoping for.
Now that its achievements have been fixed,
Monster Island proves itself to be a pretty easy completion. Well, easier than impossible, like it was before.
Top Windows Phone Games Completed
Achievements Won51,386 TrueAchievements gamers won a total of 720,393 achievements online between them (43,586 different achievements).
No surprise here as
Borderlands 2 nabs all the spots in Retail Achievements Won. Expect a few of these to stick around for a while, especially as
First One's Free is literally handed to you at the start of the game.
Top Retail Achievements Won
Last week, I said that, whilst
Mark of the Ninja had made a decent mark on Arcade Achievements Won, the achievements for
The Walking Dead would prove more resilient, as zombies tend to do. This week, I'm proved right, as the ninja sneaks away, replaced by a selection of achievements from
Jet Set Radio. However, those ever-present zombies cling on to its feet, threatening to pull it down into the depths. Will the skating graffiti artist be dragged down by the undead too? Tune in next week to find out.
Top Arcade Achievements Won
Whilst a lot of people started
Tiki Towers, getting much further than the start seems to have proven more difficult. Strange, I found the same thing with my Tikka Tower. Only two achievements for the title make an appearance in Windows Phone Achievements Won, and it's a similar story for the lone
Contre Jour achievement, with
Crimson Dragon: Side Story and
Monster Island making up the bulk of the numbers.
Top Windows Phone Achievements Won
Well, well, well. Last week, I predicted that
Borderlands 2 would have an impact on Genre this week, but I didn't quite forsee this domination. Role-Playing shoots down Shooters and out-actions Action-Adventure to settle in with an almost triple decker lead. Impressive stuff, but with a number of big name Shooters and Action-Adventures coming out soon, I don't expect it to last.
Interestingly, apart from Role-Playing making a significant shift, the other genre positions remain exactly the same. I'm surprised Sports didn't receive more of a boost, considering how many new sport titles are in this week's Retail Games Started chart.
Shooter and Action-Adventure both receive a dip in numbers and so does Racing, which is strange considering
F1 2012's release. Does that mean that the new Formula One title is causing
less people to get into driving games? Bizzaro.
Total TrueAchievements won by Genre
-
Action-Adventure3,315,812
As I mentioned last week, if you've got any ideas for Stats, such as new regular or guest stats, feel free to
PM me with your thoughts. Hey, just PM me to say hi, or sign up to my new 'Adopt a Statisticle' program, where you can take one of my burnt-out Ewoks off my hands. They don't bite...much.
Thanks to those who have messaged me already: some interesting ideas are coming in, as well as some very weird ones. Number of TAers who could beat up a shark? Really? We all know there's just one, and your
looking at reading him.