Wccftech’s Best Multiplayer Games of 2022

by Arthur · December 31, 2022

2022 saw the launch of many multiplayer games – too many to count, in fact. Quantity isn’t necessarily a good thing, but this year online gamers were able to dive into a lot of quality games as well. Our list includes shooters, massively multiplayer online games, fighting games, and action RPGs. Keep reading to find out our picks!

Also in Wccftech’s Best Games of 2022 Lists: Shooter, Fighting, Platformer, Adventure, Indie, Action and Horror

Table of Contents

Lost sheet

The MMOARPG developed by Smilegate RPG has finally launched on Western shores thanks to publisher Amazon Games. It was also a big debut, as the game soon jumped to Steam’s second place for concurrent online players.

In March, a month after its Western release, Smilegate RPG and Amazon Games revealed that the game had crossed the milestone of 20 million players globally, over half of whom logged in from the newly added regions of North America, Europe, South America and Australia .

Lost Ark is unique in its blend of the Diablo-like hack-and-slash experience with deep MMORPG elements such as dungeons, raids and PvP. It also includes a veritable treasure trove of content developed over the years by Smilegate RPG, ensuring that Western players will have something to do for a long time (speaking of which, here’s a look at the early 2023 roadmap).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II/Warzone 2.0

If anyone thought Call of Duty would continue the downward trend among multiplayer games seen with Vanguard, Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare II/Warzone 2.0 combo quickly put that thought to rest. The premium offering, Modern Warfare II, smashed the previous sales record set by Black Ops II. MWII earned over a billion dollars in global sales in the first ten days of its launch; in the same time frame, players had already spent over 200 million hours in one billion matches. Shortly after, Warzone 2.0 (also developed by Infinity Ward with the same engine and game mechanics) registered over 25 million players in just five days since its debut.

Between the two titles, Call of Duty now offers something for everyone: single player campaign, multiplayer co-op (Special Ops and even Raids), regular PvP multiplayer, Battle Royale multiplayer and extraction type multiplayer (DMZ). The breadth of content, combined with Infinity Ward’s signature tight shooter, ensures that Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0 will stay at the top of the charts for a long time.

Splatoon 3

The polar opposite of Call of Duty in the shooter genre is undoubtedly the colorful and quirky Splatoon. With the third installment, released on September 9th exclusively for Nintendo Switch, the developers at Nintendo EPD have arguably created the best Splatoon game yet, as noted by Nathan Birch in Wccftech’s review.

Splatoon 3 might be the series’ best entry yet, with some nice gameplay tweaks and new weapons, an expanded and polished story mode, and more launch content than its predecessors.

In less than a month of release, Splatoon 3 sold nearly eight million copies, making it the fastest-selling franchise entry yet. It’s also one of the most fun multiplayer games you can play on Nintendo Switch, or anywhere for that matter.

Fire Ring

Although Elden Ring can be played entirely on its own, FromSoftware’s latest title still deserves a place among the best multiplayer games of 2022. After all, the studio’s Souls games really took off in popularity thanks to the online communities that came together to help others. /chosen undead/hunters in need or to invade their worlds and wreak untold havoc at just the right moment. It’s no coincidence that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the only single-player game of the bunch, turned out to be less popular.

Elden Ring is no different than the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games in this regard. Its online functionality was recently expanded with PvP Colosseums, but the pinnacle of the Elden Ring online experience is only available on PC thanks to the Seamless Co-Op mod, which removes all default restrictions placed on cooperative PvE. With the mod, you can now play together throughout the entire game world while using horses and defeating bosses one after another. The creator even increased the number of maximum co-op players in a session to six.

MultiVersus

There’s even a fighting game on this year’s best multiplayer games list, and it’s from a brand new franchise (albeit made from very famous franchises). MultiVersus, a crossover fighting game that includes characters from many IPs owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, had a massive debut, attracting over 20 million players in less than a month across all platforms. In Wccftech’s impression article, Francesco De Meo praised the Super Smash Bros.-inspired gameplay formula, but criticized the monetization scheme.

MultiVersus has the potential to become one of the most popular platformers ever made, thanks to its solid gameplay and great roster, but the game’s monetization scheme may have an impact on its popularity in the future, although the content that matters most (characters) may unlocked for free with some effort.