When we put together Game Rant’s most anticipated games of 2011 list, not only did it start behind-the-scenes fight to the death among our team, but little did we expect some of the games to not even release this year. As we approach the final stretch of the year, we also approach the biggest release period of the year - so just what are gamers most excited about this fall?
With Mass Effect 3, Diablo III and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier all delayed until next year (5 of our top 20 have been delayed to 2012), there is still an unbelievable line-up of fall games.
Nielson just revealed their ‘Top 20 Games to Watch’ list, formulated from a “variety of consumer measures from Nielsen’s Video Game Tracking survey, including the top five titles active gamers are considering for purchase.” The games were limited to ones that are releasing on PS3, Xbox 360 and PS3 releases so we apologize in advance for the PC-only releases (looking at you, The Old Republic, Red Orchestra 2 and Minecraft).
As one would expect, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reigns supreme and takes the top sport by a very large margin. It will of course, break sales records for the year and likely for the franchise as well so no surprise there. Tied for second however, is Gears of War 3 which released last week to become the year’s biggest launch (so far), and Madden NFL 12, a game which didn’t earn the greatest of reviews compared to NHL or FIFA franchises and is telling of a loyal built-in fanbase.
Here is the complete list:
Note that Battlefield 3 sits at 12% vs. MW3’s 27% - this will make a few fanboys angry.
EA should be happy to see Need for Speed: The Run sitting as high as Uncharted 3 but the biggest surprise (or is it?) of the list is that only one of the 20 games listed is an original IP: Dead Island. If you’re wondering why it’s tough for developers and publishers to get out new games, this is why.
Which of these games do you plan on playing this fall?
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Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.
Source: Nielson
