And the Most Played Game on Xbox Live in 2010 Is …

I’ll give you two hints: the game’s sub-title starts with a color and it rhymes with “plops.”

Every year, Major Nelson or as his friends call him, Larry, totals up the most popular Xbox Live titles from the past year and broadcasts the results to his fellow netizens. After fooling around far too long with Excel spreadsheets and a slide rule, Nelson is happy to report that Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer was played the most over Xbox Live in 2010, followed by Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption and Fable III. Also listed was the top Live Arcade game, topped by Dead Rising 2: Case Zero and Limbo, and the most successful Indie Games, led by everyone’s favorite Baby Maker Extreme

Keep in mind, these results are only indicative of the Xbox Live activity for a game in the first 7 days that they were available. The open-world Red Dead multiplayer might have been played by people who bought the game after release or kept playing after that 7 day window, but none of that is reflected in these results.

I don’t know about you, but that makes these lists somewhat misleading. I’d rather know what games were played over the course of the year instead of just measuring how well they did for the first 7 days.

Here are the top 10 for each category:

Xbox Live: Most Unique Users in the First 7 Days of Availability

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. Halo: Reach
3. Red Dead Redemption
4. Fable III
5. Battlefield: Bad Co. 2
6. Medal of Honor
7. Mass Effect 2
8. FIFA Soccer 11
9. Fallout: New Vegas
10. BioShock 2

Xbox Live Arcade: Most Sales in the First 7 Days of Availability

1. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
2. LIMBO
3. Perfect Dark
4. Toy Soldiers
5. Monday Night Combat
6. Deadliest Warrior
7. Dead Rising 2: Case West
8. X-Men Arcade
9. Castlevania Harmony of Despair
10. Plants vs Zombies

Xbox Indie Games: Most Sales in the First 7 Days of Availability

1. Baby Maker Extreme
2. Avatar Showdown
3. Avatar Paintball
4. Avatar Ninja!
5. Avatar Racedrome
6. Try Not To Fart
7. Nuclear Wasteland
8. Avatar Onslaught
9. Yet Another Zombie Defense
10. Zombie Estate

In case you were wondering what Xbox Live (and PS3 and Steam) games your fellow Escapist denizens are playing to see how it compares with Major Nelson’s list, check out our statistics page here.

Source: Major Nelson