Biggest article of the year

What a year it's been for gaming. And what a year it's been for gaming at TheGamer. You button mashers and thumbstick flickers visited TheGamer a whole bunch this year, and we love you for it. To show our appreciation, we've decided to join a trend that only works for Spotify and maybe Letterboxd and every other app in your life by bringing you the biggest stats of the year.

Take a look at some of the stories you read the most in 2024, and you can guess which Game of the Year nominees got the most attention from TheGamer's adoring fans this year.

The most popular guide

How to unlock every Zombies Mastery Combo in Black Ops 6

Call of Duty has long since replaced Mario as the video game non-gamers think of when they hear the word 'video game'. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Being at the center of a court case regarding the Activision Blizzard acquisition, teething problems through the transfer to Warzone, and fears that the series was becoming stale made Call of Duty's status in video games uncertain.

Black Ops 6 has been hailed as a much-needed return to form, and a big part of that is how much fun it is to kill things that are already dead.

In July, your mood was Double Chunk Skibidy Ridge

In a move that shocked scientists everywhere, the summer break for schools coincided with a surge in traffic for Roblox and Fortnite. It was also the month when the Skibidy Toilet movie was announced.

Most popular feature

Thanks, Xbox, I'm not subscribing to Game Pass again

Game Pass lost some of its luster this year as Xbox shuffled the tiers in a way designed to make it poor value for money. Worse, it did this against a backdrop of selling exclusive flagships to other consoles and shutting down the teams behind the Hi-Fi Rush. This meant that Xbox's once industry-leading business model was often indebted to players, and some walked away.

The comments were all reasonable and showed excellent reading comprehension as the article carefully considered the overall point Microsoft was making about its lack of fairness to its loyal customers, not to mention its developers.

The second tip was that PC gaming now seems cheaper and more convenient than consoles, which is what the PS5 Pro was all about. We've all really fallen in love with consoles this year, haven't we?

Nominated for the most popular game of the year

Final fantasy 7 rebirth

Even against Elden Ring's expansion, Final Fantasy is the most coveted of the six nominations this year, sporting a fresh-faced PlayStation mascot, loose literary adaptations, and two new IPs. Add in a huge open world and about 2.7 million minigames (I counted), it's no wonder everyone wants to read about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The most read article on Cloud's escapades was the confirmation of a canon romance with Tifa. I want to note for the record that I reject this reality and will continue to love Aerith.

The most popular list

Best Breed Combos in Palworld

For one short week, Palworld was the biggest game in the world. Its small studio, lack of experience with global popularity, and little litigation from Nintendo and Pokémon have created a rocky trail under the game's roadmap, but few games have captured the spirit of 2024 (starting strong, promising, eventually retreating. A body from Nintendo shock) like Palworld.

Someone has a message for you

753,262 of you still care about Owlbear from Baldur's Gate 3

This was our biggest guide to 2023, when Baldur's Gate 3 was king of the universe. All things must come to an end, but 753,262 of you are still looking for that outrageous (and incredibly cute) camp buddy this year. 11,164 of you had to settle for a shovel. I bet at least two of those finds came from the Vatican.

The most popular news story

Helldivers 2 players lose super earth, nothing happens

Few games can capture 2024 like Palworld, but Helldivers 2 is one of those few. A refreshing multiplayer experience in a year of suffering through Suicide Squad and Concord, what's most interesting as an outsider is that it gives us a behind-the-scenes look. It gave its 'game master' a personality, gave players control over story direction, and played by mixing in the sarcasm of the story when it talked to players as if they were the players sitting on the couch at home and when they gave orders. There were real child soldiers in the army of humanity. Perhaps this anticlimax was an ironic masterstroke.

Most of the page where I really don't understand how it works

Monopoly Go Free Dice Rolls

Is it like a live-service, mobile, single-player Monopoly? You know, don't explain it. I am happy if you are happy. I hope you got the best hotel or whatever objective in this game.

Most popular reviews

Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road

I was also surprised by this. Many people think that reviews are what everyone reads on websites (and everything published is called a 'review', which may explain the confusion), but the numbers tend to show that's not true. In a cynical indictment of the industry, the top four articles featuring 'reviews' were actually news stories on Helldivers 2, Space Marine 2, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and The First Descendant which bombed for various reasons.

Introducing your TheGamer Wrapped personalized AI podcast!

We obviously don't have that. Why on Spotify? Why is it necessary for a robot to listen to the fact that I listened to Sabrina Carpenter this summer?