It's no surprise that the most discussed video game on Twitter in 2020 was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as many gamers credit the life-simulator for holding the community together during the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, the rest of Twitter's top games of 2020 are ones gamers may not have seen coming (or even heard of before), making for an intriguing list heading into 2021.

In November 2020, Screen Rant talked with the head of Twitter Sports Canada Conor Clarance to discuss the way gamers have affected Twitter's landscape. At that time, Clarance had stated that Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the most talked-about game in Canada with 4 million tweets from the North American country alone. However, even with 4 million tweets, Canada wasn't able to make it onto Twitter's list of the Top Ten Countries that tweeted about gaming in 2020.

Related: Animal Crossing Fans Can Look Forward To A New Gaming Chair

Regardless, Canada's 4 million Animal Crossing tweets as of November were foreshadowing the outcome of Twitter's most discussed game of 2020. According to a blog posted by Twitter's Head of Gaming Content Rishi Chadha, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the most tweeted about game globally in 2020. Animal Crossing placed above other notable titles including six mobile games, Fortnite, Final Fantasy, and Apex Legends. Mobile titles such as Fate/Grand Order, Disney: Twisted-Wonderland, and Knives Out made the list as well, likely due to Japan's impact on Twitter's analytics.

twitter 2020 top games

Despite mobile games incentivizing Twitter usage and the massive Japanese gaming landscape, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was able to dethrone Fate/Grand Order as the most discussed game on Twitter in 2020. Animal Crossing's impressions were notable to the point where United Stated President-Elect Joe Biden used the game as a campaigning platform on more than one occasion. It was also used as a form of marketing for Cartoon Network during Halloween. Sales globally also reflect the reach of Animal Crossing: New Horizons as it has maintained a place at the top of the sales charts since its release in March 2020.

It is interesting to see how Twitter's top 10 charts don't reflect what many gamers would expect after all that 2020 had to offer. Games such as Among Us and Fall Guys, which seemingly dominated Twitter's trending page for months at a time, weren't able to snag a spot on the top 10. Even controversial titles that caused a lot of discussion such as Cyberpunk 2077 didn't make a big enough impression to make the list - though that could at least partially be attributed to the fact that the game's release came so late in the year, with a surge in mentions only beginning in December. It raises the question of what it does take to make it into Twitter's top 10 - and, perhaps more importantly, what it takes to dethrone mobile games in mentions over the span of a year.

Next: Animal Crossing Player Recreates Joey and Chandler's Friends Apartment

Source: Twitter