Study Says This Is the Most Loved (and Most Hated) Video Game in the Philippines
Gaming has long moved out of the shadows of being a subculture and into the mainstream. According to Statista, revenues from video games is projected to reach an eye-popping $372 billion worldwide this year. And it’s only going to get bigger.
Believe it or not, in a world with eight billion souls, nearly half, or about 3.09 billion play some form of video game. But not all games are created equal.
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A study conducted by Liberty Games sought to find out which of the world’s biggest games and gaming characters people responded to and like the most, as well as which ones gamers absolutely despise. Researchers did this by gathering a huge sample of geotagged tweets that mention the names on a base list of the biggest gaming franchises and characters and analyzed them for positivity of negativity using an AI sentiment tool called HuggingFace.
The study was able to break down the results by country. In the Philippines, apparently the most loved video game is none other than The Last of Us. Recently given the small screen treatment at HBO, The Last of Us is, of course, an apocalyptic horror game that follows a group of survivors led by Joel and Ellie.
On the flipside, the most hated video game in the Philippines is the Battlefield series, a first-person shooter game developed by Electronic Arts for multiple platforms.
Worldwide, the most loved video game franchise is Spyro the Dragon, which was first launched for the Sony Playstation almost 25 years ago. While the only country to have Spyro as its favorite is the U.K., globally, 55.9 percent of Spyro-themed tweets are positive, making it the world's favorite.
Also in the top 10 (in descending order) are Mario Party (54.8 percent positive tweets), Sonic the Hedgehog (52.7 percent) Super Mario (50.2 percent), Super Smash Bros. (50 percent), Microsoft Flight Simulator (48.9 percent), The Legend of Zelda (48.1 percent), Crash Bandicoot (47.6 percent) Dragon Quest (47.1 percent), and Mass Effect (46.1 percent).
As for the most hated video games worldwide, global sentiment seems to mirror the Philippines as Battlefield took the top spot. According to the study, it’s the most despised game in 17 countries worldwide. “2021's Battlefield 2042 instalment has done much of the damage, proving an enormous let-down after mouth-watering trailers,” the study says. “Fans decry its bugs, flawed gameplay and baffling inclusion of Christmas-themed skins.”
Most loved characters
As for video game characters, Filipinos can’t seem to get enough of Pikachu as it claimed the title of most loved character in the country. Crash Bandicoot, meanwhile, is the most hated. Go figure.
Worldwide, Mario from the Nintendo series Super Mario Bros. is the most loved video game character with 41.7 percent of tweets about him positive. He’s followed in the top 10 by Megaman (41.6 percent), Zelda (37.8 percent), Rayman (from the eponymous video game series, 36.4 perent), Crash Bandicoot (36.3 percent), Spyro (34.9 percent), Link (from The Legend of Zelda franchise, 34.2 percent), Ezio (from Assassin’s Creed, 34.2 percent), Nathan Drake (from Uncharted, 33.6 percent), and Yoshi (from the Super Mario Bros. franchise, 32.7 percent).
The most hated video game character, meanwhile, is, believe it or not, Mario’s younger brother Luigi, who is disliked in 14 countries worldwide. “This may come as little surprise to gamers as any feel that he’s super frustrating to play against on Super Smash Bros,” the study says. “the hatred can get a little personal, however. Message threads on sites such as GameSpot reveal that ‘the character himself is annoying,’ and that he’s an ‘unorthodox Mario with weird movement options.’”
Finally, the Philippines’s most loved video game console is the Sony Playstation. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t share the same sentiment, as globally, the most loved consoles are those from Nintendo, which is the favorite in 58 countries. Nintendo is only at second place with 20 countries saying it’s their favorite, while Microsoft’s Xbox is in third place with 22 countries voting it their favorite console.
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