Gamers rejoice! July 8th marks National Video Game Day.
While not an officially recognized holiday (yet!), this celebration of the digital gaming revolution is observed annually by anyone looking for another excuse to spend hours immersed in their favorite virtual world.
In honor of National Video Game Day, BetOhio.com is taking a break from covering the first year of Ohio sports betting to rank the favorite video games of Ohio residents.
To do so, we considered two main criteria: 1) 2022’s Top 10 best-selling video game franchises according to Statista; and 2) Google Trends history of the most searches for videos games between June 27, 2022 to June 27, 2023.
By these metrics, here are the top five most popular video games, as compiled by BetOhio.com, your source for the best Betway Ohio promo code.
Note: Tetris, Super Mario, FIFA and Final Fantasy also were in the data.
Minecraft ranks as the favorite video game of Ohio residents. The open-world sandbox game offers players a nearly infinite world of blocky pixels from which you can explore and build. Entire cities have been constructed inside of Minecraft, with some users painstakingly re-creating scale replicas of real-world landmarks like the The Great Wall of China and the Sydney Opera House.
In 2016, developer Majong Studios and its owner, Microsoft, began working on a Minecraft spin-off tailored to the education system. Known as Minecraft Education, the educational edition allows students to interact with lesson plans in the digital world of Minecraft. Inserting the game into the classroom surely has helped boost the game’s popularity among its youthful target demographic.
The second most popular video game franchise in Ohio is Pokémon. With its origins in Japan, the role-playing game about collecting, training, and fighting fictional creatures — Pokémon translates to “pocket monster” in Japanese — took America by storm, beginning in 1998.
Dubbed “Pokémania” at the time, the hugely successful video games, first released on Nintendo Gameboy, were accompanied by a TV series, a trading card game, and plenty of merchandise.
After the initial craze, the fad petered out for nearly a decade. But Pokémania made a big comeback in 2016 with the release of Pokémon Go. The augmented reality app allowed players to search for and collect Pokémon in their own neighborhood. In other words, the same kids that played Pokémon on Gameboy in the ‘90s and early-2000s, now armed with their cellphones, could take to the streets and re-create the experience of collecting Pokémon in the real world. The franchise has rebounded ever since, attracting a new generation of fans.
The popular LEGO video games are No. 3 on our list. Through its various licensing agreements, LEGO has worked with the London-based TT Games to develop and release a string of games based on existing intellectual property. Beginning with LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game in 2005, LEGO has released more than 20 games in partnership with the media conglomerates behind the likes of Marvel, DC Comics, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.
No. 4 is Grand Theft Auto — or “GTA,” as it’s known among its swath of diehard fans. The ultra-violent game franchise, which allows players free rein to commit as much carnage as they can within the realms of the fictional American city in which the game is set, has been incredibly polarizing since the first game was released in 1997.
Finally, Super Mario rates out as the Buckeye State’s fifth favorite game. While the diminutive plumber might be at the bottom of our list for this years’ National Video Game Day, there’s no denying that Super Mario is the most successful video game franchise of all time — selling more than 826 million copies around the world.
And here’s one more thing to celebrate this National Video Game Day — it’s the first year in which eSports betting is legal across Ohio. So, after you’ve banished Bowser from the Mushroom Kingdom for the hundredth time, consider placing an eSports wager at one of the many Ohio betting apps.
Author
Jeff Parker is an Entertainment Writer for BetOhio.com. A writer for film, television and the internet, Jeff is a life long movie buff, with an actual Masters Degree in Popular Culture. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works full time as documentary filmmaker and producer.
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