With the younger generations across the U.S. increasingly shirking the great outdoors in general for their console or computer game of choice, it’s likely of little surprise to learn that many Americans have their virtual contest of choice.
Topping the list in the U.S. this year when it came to video game popularity was the 2011 sandbox game from Mojang Studios known as Minecraft, which finished the period in question with a search interest score of 45 points to score a four point victory over fellow sandbox game Fortnite, while ROBLOX finished third overall.
EGaming – the competitive individual or team video games – is a rapidly growing market, especially with no California sports betting to compete just yet for attention in the state. As colleges begin to incorporate eSport teams and programs across the country and streaming becomes more and more popular, BetCalifornia.com was interested in seeing what games are most predominant among EGaming fans.
Using Google Trends, we ranked the top 10 PC games based on search interest scores across the U.S. The search was a 90-day effort that concluded on January 22, 2025.
Rank | Game | Search Interest Scores |
1 | Minecraft | 45 |
2 | Fortnite | 41 |
3 | ROBLOX | 39 |
4 | Call of Duty | 38 |
5 | The Sims 4 | 28 |
6 | Path of Exile 2 | 25 |
7 | Marvel Rivals | 15 |
8 | Valorant | 12 |
T-9 | League of Legends | 8 |
T-9 | Overwatch | 8 |
While Minecraft finished atop the U.S. video game rankings for the year and Fortnite (41 search interest score) and ROBLOX (39 search interest score) were next in line, other favorites included Call of Duty (38 search interest score), The Sims 4 (28 search interest score) and Path of Exile 2 (25 search interest score).
Throw in Marvel Rivals (15 search interest score), Valorant (12 search interest score) and a two-way tie between League of Legends and Overwatch (8 search interest score each) and you have the full range of games that made the cut this year.
At day’s end, none of them held the cultural cache that Minecraft did, though, with the brainchild of Markus “Notch” Persson taking home top honors as the country’s video game of choice in 2025.
USA Today photo by Matt Stone.
Author
Christopher Boan is the lead writer at BetCalifornia.com, specializing in sports betting issues in the western United States. He's covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
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