The first half of 2021 has been filled with new video game cultural moments, including braving Returnal's brutal battles in March, obsessing over Lady Dimitrescu when Resident Evil Village hit shelves in May, or From Software finally showing fans Elden Ring during this month's Summer Game Fest. However, a new study from Twitter revealing the most talked-about games on the social media app so far this year shows that 2020's Genshin Impact has topped everything else.
Genshin Impact steals the crown from last year's most discussed game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. That said, the online open-world RPG taking the top spot is far from a surprise, with the free-to-play game managing to cultivate a huge audience since its initial debut.
As for the games Genshin Impact beat out, Apex Legends took second place and Ensemble Stars slotted into third. The latter is a Japanese mobile game that released back in 2015, spinning off from another series known as Ensemble Girls. Final Fantasy fell just behind Ensemble Stars in fourth and Animal Crossing slotted into fifth. The rest of the list includes the likes of Fortnite, Monster Hunter, and Minecraft.
The most discussed game of 2021 wasn't the only stat listed by Twitter, with the company also compiling the year's most talked-about gaming personalities. The list likely won't come as a shock to anyone familiar with popular streamers and content creators, as it features the likes of Quackity, Ibai, Corpse Husband, Dream, Valkyrae, GeorgeNotFound, and Technoblade. As for who managed to come out on top, Japanese content creator Colon was the most talked-about gaming personality of the year so far.
The rest of 2021 is sure to have plenty of new gaming trends capable of taking over Twitter, with several major games slated to launch this summer and fall. Horizon Forbidden West is still scheduled to hit PlayStation 5 later this year, although Guerilla Games' Hermen Hulst warned fans that a delay hasn't been ruled out. Meanwhile, Metroid Dread will hit Nintendo Switch in October, bringing the franchise back to a 2D perspective for the first time in 18 years. There's also Halo Infinite, which is meant to hit the Xbox Series X before 2021 ends. It'll be interesting to see if any of these three exclusives – or something more unexpected – manages to break into the list.
Genshin Impact is available now for Mobile, PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, with a Switch version in development.
Source: Twitter
