Our 100 most popular Xbox games of 2023 list shows the power of Game Pass

Here it is: the official TrueAchievements gameplay chart of the top 100 most popular Xbox games for 2023, with Starfield already making it into the top five.

Heidi Nicholas

Published 23 Dec 2023

After all our weekly charts, this here's the big one: the top 100 Xbox Gameplay Chart for the whole year of 2023.

Somehow, despite being in first place for nearly every chart of the year, Fortnite isn't top of the chart for the most popular games of 2023. Minecraft has that honor (it was first for last year's top 100 chart too), followed by GTA V in second, and then Fortnite in third. Call of Duty is in fourth, with Starfield managing to break in at fifth. Starfield was undoubtedly one of 2023's biggest launches, so despite only releasing at the end of the year (and to mixed opinions) it's not too much of a surprise to see it shoot so high. It's got more planned for 2024, too, so it might manage to hold onto its impressive player numbers. Halo Infinite was fourth in last year's chart for the top 100 most popular Xbox games but has slipped down to ninth this year despite regular updates and new Seasons, while Rocket League has raced up to tenth.

FIFA 23 has made a massive leap up from 50th last year to 11th this year. 2023 saw it join Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play, before being delisted ahead of EA Sports FC 24's release. The next big change is Atomic Heart, which is at 18th after launching into Game Pass early this year. Another of this year's big launches is Hogwarts Legacy, which has made it to 20th after launching a few weeks or so earlier than Atomic Heart. Payday 3, a September 2023 release, has made it to 22nd despite all its launch issues and patch delays.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has fallen from fifth place in last year's chart to 23rd this year, while just below, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (another 2023 Game Pass launch) has reached 25th of the 100 most popular games. We then have a spate of other 2023 releases: Wo Long Fallen Dynasty at 27th, GoldenEye 007 at 28th, and Forza Motorsport at 29th. All launched on day one into Game Pass. Black Ops 2, meanwhile, has managed to leap up 40 places from last year's spot at 72nd. Earlier this year, Xbox 360 Call of Duty games saw a huge spike in players after server fixes, which might help to explain this boost.

The rest of the chart is riddled with 2023's releases, although they might not all be where you'd expect. At 35th we have Party Animals (a day-one Game Pass launch), followed by Stranded Deep at 36th, Monster Hunter Rise at 37th, and Redfall (another day-one Game Pass addition) at 38th. Redfall was plagued by bugs and lacklustre reviews at launch, prompting Phil Spencer to apologize and discuss his disappointment at letting down Xbox fans. However, Bethesda's Pete Hines says the team will keep working on Redfall because it's in Game Pass, saying, "we know, as a first-party studio, Game Pass lives forever."

Madden NFL 23 launched in 2022 but makes its first appearance on the top 100 chart for 2023 at 40th, most likely thanks to joining Game Pass Ultimate via EA Play. Plenty of big Game Pass day-one launches show up throughout the chart, such as Lies of P at 41st, Minecraft Legends at 47th, and Hi-Fi Rush at 50th.

Then we have major releases like Diablo IV, which shows up at 46th. Some big releases, like Assassin's Creed Mirage, don't shop up on this top 100, but the older Assassin's Creed games are all falling fast: Odyssey is down from 51st to 65th, while Valhalla is down from 47th to 82nd, and Origins is down from 41st to 89th.

The much-updated No Man's Sky is down from 2022's spot at 58th to 73rd, but Hello Games announced a new multiplayer game called Light No Fire, which already looks to be hugely ambitious. Meanwhile, it's interesting to see Vampire Survivors has only made it into the top 100 this year, and at 91st, since it joined Game Pass last year. However, it's had a lot of big updates, which might explain its sudden appearance. Rounding out the chart at 100th is Remnant 2, which launched earlier this year but joined Game Pass only recently.

Position	Game	Publisher	Last year
1	Minecraft	Xbox Game Studios	1
2	Grand Theft Auto V	Rockstar Games	3
3	Fortnite	Epic Games	2
4	Call of Duty	Activision	6
5	Starfield	Bethesda Softworks	-
6	Forza Horizon 5	Xbox Game Studios	7
7	ROBLOX	Roblox	11
8	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege	Ubisoft	13
9	Halo Infinite	Xbox Game Studios	4
10	Rocket League	Psyonix	12
11	FIFA 23	Electronic Arts	50
12	Fall Guys	Epic Games	8
13	Apex Legends	Electronic Arts	10
14	Sea of Thieves	Xbox Game Studios	15
15	Overwatch 2	Blizzard Entertainment	9
16	Red Dead Redemption 2	Rockstar Games	22
17	Battlefield 2042	Electronic Arts	24
18	Atomic Heart	Focus Entertainment	-
19	Halo: The Master Chief Collection	Xbox Game Studios	26
20	Hogwarts Legacy	Warner Bros. Games	-
21	High On Life	Squanch Games	14
22	PAYDAY 3	Deep Silver	-
23	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	Activision	5
24	Destiny 2	Bungie	23
25	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre	Gun Interactive	-
26	Among Us	Maximum Games	18
27	Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty	KOEI TECMO	-
28	GoldenEye 007	Rare	-
29	Forza Motorsport	Xbox Game Studios	-
30	Grounded	Xbox Game Studios	25
31	Mortal Kombat 11	Warner Bros. Games	32
32	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	Activision	72
33	Gang Beasts	Double Fine	27
34	Call of Duty: Black Ops III	Activision	43
35	Party Animals	Source Technology	-
36	Stranded Deep	Beam Team Games	-
37	Monster Hunter Rise	Capcom Entertainment	-
38	Redfall	Bethesda Softworks	-
39	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	Bethesda Softworks	31
40	Madden NFL 23	Electronic Arts	-
41	Lies of P	Neowiz	-
42	Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition	Xbox Game Studios	-
43	Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War	Activision	19
44	Cyberpunk 2077	CD Projekt	33
45	Hot Wheels Unleashed	Milestone	-
46	Diablo IV	Blizzard Entertainment	-
47	Minecraft Legends	Xbox Game Studios	-
48	LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga	Warner Bros. Games	36
49	Elden Ring	Bandai Namco Entertainment	20
50	Hi-Fi RUSH	Bethesda Softworks	-
51	Star Wars Battlefront II	Electronic Arts	39
52	EA SPORTS UFC 4	Electronic Arts	62
53	Gotham Knights	Warner Bros. Games	-
54	Dead by Daylight	505 Games	37
55	PowerWash Simulator	Square Enix	29
56	Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order	Electronic Arts	53
57	Exoprimal	Capcom Entertainment	-
58	FIFA 22	Electronic Arts	17
59	Fallout 4	Bethesda Softworks	65
60	ARK: Survival Evolved	Reverb Publishing	34
61	State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition	Xbox Game Studios	55
62	Far Cry 5	Ubisoft	45
63	Need for Speed Unbound	Electronic Arts	-
64	PUBG: Battlegrounds	KRAFTON	38
65	Assassin's Creed Odyssey	Ubisoft	51
66	EA SPORTS FC 24	Electronic Arts	-
67	Skate 3	Electronic Arts	66
68	DayZ	Bohemia Interactive	64
69	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands	Ubisoft	46
70	Forza Horizon 4	Xbox Game Studios	71
71	Golf With Your Friends	Team17 Software	68
72	Warhammer 40,000: Darktide	Fatshark	-
73	No Man's Sky	505 Games	58
74	NBA 2K23	2K Sports	-
75	Stardew Valley	505 Games	88
76	For Honor	Ubisoft	54
77	Insurgency: Sandstorm	Focus Entertainment	92
78	Ghostwire: Tokyo	Bethesda Softworks	-
79	Gears 5	Xbox Game Studios	63
80	Dead Space	Electronic Arts	-
81	Fallout 76	Bethesda Softworks	57
82	Assassin's Creed Valhalla	Ubisoft	47
83	The Sims 4	Electronic Arts	78
84	Cities: Skylines - Remastered	Paradox Interactive	-
85	Back 4 Blood	Warner Bros. Games	40
86	MLB The Show 23	MLB	-
87	Microsoft Flight Simulator	Xbox Game Studios	48
88	Farming Simulator 22	Giants Software	99
89	Assassin's Creed Origins	Ubisoft	41
90	7 Days to Die	The Fun Pimps	49
91	Vampire Survivors	poncle	-
92	Minecraft Dungeons	Xbox Game Studios	60
93	Call of Duty: Black Ops	Activision	-
94	Car Mechanic Simulator 2021	PlayWay	-
95	Human Fall Flat	Curve Games	79
96	Chivalry 2	Deep Silver	61
97	Injustice 2	Warner Bros. Games	91
98	Far Cry 6	Ubisoft	75
99	Batman: Arkham Knight	Warner Bros. Games	80
100	Remnant II	THQ Nordic	-

Chart compiled using gameplay data from over 2.4 million active Xbox accounts. Chart information is copyright GameInsights. For details on how the chart is calculated, click here.

Chart Xbox Series X|S

Written by Heidi Nicholas

Heidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.