The free-to-play model dominates online gaming on PC

The online gaming ecosystem on PC is going through a different phase from the rest of the industry, as it embraced the Freemium model ages ago. Nevertheless, it’s still a surprise to see the most-played titles. This list of the top 20 games was made by NewZoo via the online tool Overwolf, and shows the most-played online games for PC during the month of February. If you look carefully, you’ll notice that half of them are free-to-play.

1. League of Legends [Download]
2. Minecraft [Download]
3. World of Tanks [Download]
4. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
5. World of Warcraft
6. Guild Wars 2
7. DOTA 2
8. ARMA 3
9. Diablo III
10. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft [Download]
11. Smite [Download]
12. War Thunder [Download]
13. Garrys Mod
14. Star Wars: The Old Republic [Download]
15. Grand Theft Auto: San Andres Multiplayer [Download]
16. Robocraft [Download]
17. ArcheAge
18. Battlefield 4
19. DayZ
20. Team Fortress 2

League of Legends, World of Tanks, DOTA 2, Hearthstone, Smite, War Thunder, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Robocraft, ArcheAge, and Team Fortress 2 are completely free-to-play and can be downloaded and enjoyed over the long term without paying anything at all. But you could go further: you could play World of Warcraft totally free, going as far as level 20 in the trial version, or download the Starter Edition of Diablo III, which lets you play most of Act I in the game.

There are other peculiarities with respect to the nature of the games on this list. The fact that ARMA 3 is in the list is not because of the game itself, but because its required to enjoy the DayZ mod (which is also found on the list in its standalone version), not to mention that the multiplayer mod for GTA: San Andreas requires a title released more than a decade ago to work properly. The paths to gaming success are inscrutable!