Nielsen makes a List of most-anticipated Games, Modern Warfare 3 on top

Nielsen has made a list of the top twenty most heavily anticipated games for the holiday season. The survey ranked the games based on how many put them in their top five. 27% of gamers surveyed put Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in the top five, full list after the jump.

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – 27%
2. Gears of War 3 – 19%
3. Madden NFL 12 – 19%
4. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – 17%
5. Batman: Arkham City – 15%
6. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – 14%
7. Battlefield 3 – 12%
8. Just Dance 3 – 12%
9. NBA 2K12 – 9%
10. Need for Speed: The Run – 9%
11. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception – 9%
12. Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games – 8%
13. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 – 8%
14. FIFA Soccer 12 – 8%
15. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – 8%
16. Dead Island – 7%
17. Kinect Sports: Season 2 – 6%
18. Resistance 3 – 4%
19. Dance Central 2 – 4%
20. Deus Ex: Human Revolution – 3%

I normally balk at sports in general and I refer to any annual sports game as “Same Schtick: Different Year”, but this shows that it still sells extremely well and is highly sought after above and beyond established franchises such as Zelda and Elder Scrolls. Kind of disappointed Battlefield scored lowly however, I’m not even a big FPS person and I covered that extensively. I do wonder if EA’s aggressive methods in the market are starting to catch up with them however.

There are many reasons behind these numbers, Modern Warfare and Battlefield have been pulling all the stops to become the shooter of the year and one has even admitted the competition could be a significant threat to the playerbase and their sales. The end result is clear-cut however with Modern Warfare 3 being on top by a small landslide.