Gaming

37.5+ million copies of Xbox’s best-selling games wasted, according to fans

Published

5 years ago

May 13, 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Microsoft recently released their earnings report for quarter three, revealing that their profits for Xbox content and services have increased a whopping 34% this quarter. Despite this, they claim to have never made a profit from selling the consoles themselves, meaning most of this profit is made from the sales of games. This led ManySpins to investigate exactly how satisfied gamers are with the games they purchase from Xbox.

Using a list of the 20 best-selling Xbox One games, they used Metacritic’s user score to find out exactly what players thought of the games they had purchased. Metacritic’s user scores range from 0-10, with higher scores indicating better reviews from the gaming community.

Xbox One’s best-selling games that disappointed fans most:

	Xbox One Game	Number of Copies Sold Worldwide	User Score (Metacritic)	Number of copies potentially wasted
#1	PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds	8 million	49%	4,080,000
#2	Call of Duty: Black Ops III	7.37 million	46%	3,979,800
#3	Call of Duty: WWII	6.23 million	43%	3,551,100
#4	Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare	4.79 million	38%	2,969,800
#5	Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare	5.22 million	55%	2,349,000
#6	Star Wars Battlefront	4.14 million	45%	2,277,000
#7	Assassin’s Creed Unity	3.58 million	45%	1,969,000
#8	Grand Theft Auto V	8.72 million	79%	1,831,200
#9	FIFA 17	3.71 million	52%	1,780,800
#10	Halo 5: Guardians	4.92 million	64%	1,771,200

ManySpins can reveal the game with the most copies potentially wasted is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The game has sold a total of 8 million copies so far, but with only 49% of players happy with their purchase, around 4 million copies have been wasted.

Call of Duty games claim spots 2 to 5 of the most wasted games, with a grand total of nearly 13 million copies wasted between the four games. COD is known for being expensive as part of Xbox’s triple A games, and as there are now 24 COD games, it is easy to see how Microsoft could be more focussed on profits rather than quality gaming.

Coming sixth is Star Wars Battlefront, and with just 45% of players happy with the game that means an estimated 2.2 million copies went to waste. Eighth is Grand Theft Auto V with approximately 1.8 million copies wasted, followed by FIFA 17 in ninth (estimated 1.7 million copies wasted).

Rounding up the top 10 most disappointing Xbox One games is Halo 5: Guardians. Selling a grand total of 4.9 million copies and with a score of 64%, around 1.7 million copies of this game were potentially wasted on unhappy customers.

Kevin Roos, expert from ManySpins.com said: “Many of Xbox’s games are £50-60 on release, so despite making a loss on the consoles, Microsoft generates a lot of income through the sales of games and gaming passes. It’s not surprising that their profits have increased during the pandemic with more people spending longer at home and less time commuting.”

He added: “Microsoft knows that they can sell their consoles for a loss and still make money, especially if they keep bringing out new consoles meaning gamers have to purchase new versions of their games to continue playing.”

Methodology:

ManySpins.com used Wikipedia’s list of ‘best-selling Xbox One games’ to find the 20 best-selling video games on Xbox One.
They then searched each game on Metacritic to find the user score for each game, specifically the Xbox One editions.
ManySpins.com then ranked the games from best to worst based on their Metacritic user score to find which best-selling Xbox Ones games players were most disappointed by.
Number of copies potentially wasted was calculated by multiplying the games’ total sales from Wikipedia’s list by the percentage of negative reviews on Metacritic. These are approximate values only.

All data is correct as of 10/05/2021, but is subject to change.

Battle of the Tribes

POLYTOPIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 BREAKS RECORD PARTICIPATION AS FINALS DRAW CLOSER

Published

2 weeks ago

December 3, 2025

Wladimir P.

polytopia-world-championship-2025-breaks-record-participation-as-finals-draw-closer

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Celebrated strategy game The Battle of Polytopia confirms its first ever World Championships has exceeded expectations with over 10,000 sign-ups in its qualifying rounds. While no stranger to tournaments, previously hosting smaller scale, local tournaments called ‘Polysseums’, developer Midjiwan’s first step into global esports has been met with extreme success. The inclusive esports event has a $10,000 prize pool and will conclude on 6 December 2025, 14:00-21:00.

The finals will take place in front of a live-studio audience, with expert commentary and a chance to peek behind the scenes at Midjiwan itself. First place will receive $4,000, the runner-up will take away $2,000, the third and fourth place finishers will get $1,500, and the fifth and sixth place $500.

The Polytopia World Championship 2025 is being hosted by eSports platform, Challengermode, who Midjiwan has relied on for its monthly local tournaments since 2022. Midjiwan also partnered with Black Molly Entertainment to help organise and manage the event. Black Molly Entertainment have years of experience managing eSports tournaments, with notable events including the Geoguesser World Cup and CS:GO Pinnacle Cup Championship.

Midjiwan has worked closely with its community to ensure engagement is high with each round, building a bespoke ‘Spectator Mode’ into the game so fans can watch each game live through the game itself. In the spectator mode the viewer has visibility of all players simultaneously, with stats on how many cities, technologies, kills and more available for quick access.

Christian Lovstedt, CEO of Midjiwan commented:
“Polytopia has always been about welcoming all kinds of players into the world of 4X strategy. That’s why our championship is open to everyone – not just pros with sponsors. We’ve been thrilled at the amount of interest this tournament received from our community, reaching participation numbers way beyond our expectations. We’re excited to bring the finalists to Stockholm and can’t wait to see the strategies that emerge.”

The Polytopia World Championship 2025 kicked off in September, with its ‘Battle of the Tribes’ qualifying round – weekly battles where players competed to be the best in each of the game’s 12 tribes. After an exciting six weeks, the top player from each tribe faced-off, reducing the qualifiers to six finalists. These six winners are listed down below.

Tribe	Qualifying Player
IMPERIUS	ArthurL248
BARDUR	slimmingboy
OUMAJI	Dreamlander3000
HOODRICK	Theetat
XIN-Xi	LeLiberateur
LUXIDOOR	Meisterlampe

Recaps of each round of the tournament prior to the finals can be watched on the official Battle of Polytopia YouTube channel.

Part 1: Polytopia World Championship 1st Qualifiers Wrap-Up – BARDUR, IMPERIUS, KICKOO, ZEBASI
Part 2: Qualifiers Wrap-Up – Oumaji Hoodrick Yadakk & Quetzali – World Champoinship 2025
Part 3: Final Qualifiers Wrap-Up – Xin-Xi, Luxidoor, Ai-Mo & Vengir – World Championship 2025
Face-off stream: https://youtube.com/live/GnU6mWPoJiY?feature=share

To watch the finals live on December 6,visit here: https://polytopia.io/stream/

To stay up to date on the Polytopia World Championship 2025, or purchase one of the limited tickets for the live event, visit the official website or join the Official Polytopia Discord.

The post POLYTOPIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 BREAKS RECORD PARTICIPATION AS FINALS DRAW CLOSER appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Betiator

Delasport Unveils a Crash Game for Sports Betting

Published

2 weeks ago

December 3, 2025

George Miller

delasport-unveils-a-crash-game-for-sports-betting

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Leading iGaming supplier Delasport teases a one-of-a-kind sports betting crash game called Betiator – a new in-play experience that merges live sports with the tension and excitement of crash games.

Inspired by the groundbreaking casino genre, the company once again pushes the whole industry to a new phase in evolution by allowing sports bettors to play in the same easy and fun way as fellow casino players. Crash games are booming in the casino world, showing that players crave more emotional, fast, and visually engaging formats – and Betiator brings that same adrenaline-charged energy to the sportsbook.

It changes the scene by introducing a truly innovative way to bet on sports, keeping players at the edge of their seats during the game. Designed to excite both sports bettors and casino players, it marks a defining moment for innovation.

This product comes as a logical next step in the evolution of live betting and the company’s goal to disrupt the iGaming industry. It demonstrates Delasport’s successful commitment to unique innovation: a strategy they call “Going Beyond Content” –building on the success of products and features like SuperPot, My Sportsbook, My Combo, Double My Winnings, and many more.

“Sports bettors deserve the same level of innovation and excitement that casino players get all the time,” Delasport’s CEO Oren Cohen Shwartz says. “At Delasport we’re taking the whole game to a new playing field with Betiator. Live betting won’t feel outdated anymore as we’re bringing in the thrill of the casino to sports betting.”

While details about Betiator remain under wraps for now, Delasport promises a completely new way to experience live sports. Operators and partners eager to see it in action can schedule exclusive demos and discover more at ICE Barcelona 2026, taking place January 19–21, where Betiator will make its official debut.

The post Delasport Unveils a Crash Game for Sports Betting appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Central Europe

game’s 2026 industry barometer – the mood in the German games industry is beginning to brighten

Published

2 weeks ago

December 3, 2025

George Miller

game’s-2026-industry-barometer-–-the-mood-in-the-german-games-industry-is-beginning-to-brighten

Reading Time: 2 minutes

• Nearly one third of games companies in Germany foresee an industry upswing in the coming year

• More than half expect a positive business development for their own company in the next twelve months

• Around one in three games companies anticipate new hires

After three challenging years, games companies in Germany are looking ahead with increased optimism. Nearly one in three companies (29 per cent) anticipate a positive development in the games industry in the coming twelve months, as compared with just 17 per cent one year ago. 31 per cent of games companies expect a negative development in the industry – a considerable drop from last year’s level of 45 per cent. These are the results of game’s annual industry barometer, which was published by game – The German Games Industry Association. Games companies in Germany look towards their own business development in the coming year significantly more positively, with over half (53 per cent) expecting business to be good in 2026, similar to last year’s number of 52 per cent. Only 12 per cent anticipate a downturn in business, compared to 15 per cent last year. In their personnel planning, the companies nonetheless remain initially cautious: around one third of games companies in Germany (32 per cent) anticipate hiring new employees in 2026, the same percentage as last year.

‘Confidence is returning to Germany’s games industry,’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. ‘Following a difficult phase both here and abroad, positive signals, such as the strong gamescom 2025, and important policy initiatives, like the increased federal games funding and the announced federal tax incentives, are bringing improved prospects and greater optimism compared to a year ago.’

About game’s 2026 industry barometer

The data is based on an online survey conducted by game – The German Games Industry Association between 12 and 21 November 2025, involving a total of 202 German games industry association members, including in particular developers and publishers.

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