Contest Stats and Discussion - Part 1384

KamikazePotato posted...

If you could bet real money on GameFAQs Contests, half of B8 would be broke.

and I would be rich

I once had a massive gambling problem. Don't get into that stuff.

I'm sure this is old news and I'm not sure where else to discuss it other than making its own topic but... Log FAQs is suspended.

The user or the site?

The site is creepy stalker bulls*** so good riddance. It was used to harass people far more than “preserving history”.

That’s not a personal attack on GMUN, btw. I understand she had noble intentions of preserving history, much like the internet wayback machine. But stalking and harassment was just too easy, which is why I asked her to remove me.

The site.

I definitely understand the mixed reaction to its existence.

That's somewhat unfortunate timing since I needed to look up the "Board 8 ranks the AA characters" topic series just now.

It begins

Undertale and Zelda had 3500 votes in 5 minutes. This won't even get 100. It's a sad sight :(

That said I genuinely don't know what wins this year.

Clair Obscur dominates here like it has everywhere

Add:
Assassin's Creed Shadows
Sid Meier's Civilization VII

Remove:
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories
Tales of Graces f Remastered

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/9874-whats-your-pick-for-the-best-game-of-2025-so-far

Boy we really aren't playing new games anymore

Two remasters have 40% of the vote

With another full year of polls completed, here's an update on our average vote totals since 2008:

Year | Average | % Increase / Decrease
2008 | 91112 |
2009 | 85797 | -5.83%
2010 | 72588 | -15.40%
2011 | 56882 | -21.64%
2012 | 42981 | -24.44%
2013 | 36506 | -15.06%
2014 | 27323 | -25.15%
2015 | 21162 | -22.55%
2016 | 17492 | -17.34%
2017 | 14282 | -18.35%
2018 | 11360 | -20.46%
2019 | 10464 | -7.89%
2020 | 10483 | 0.18%
2021 | 9471 | -9.65%
2022 | 8362 | -11.71%
2023 | 7655 | -8.45%
2024 | 6963 | -9.04%
2025 | 6335 | -9.02%

2025 was largely a continuation of the previous years going back to 2021, with a similar year over year decline as the previous 4 years.

Also updated the Board 8 wiki page on this subject, which also has the full history of our average vote totals going back to 1999.

https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/GameFAQs_Site_Traffic

Night is still young but right now:

-0.06 : Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
+0.42 : Dynasty Warriors: Origins
-0.34 : Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
-0.95 : Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
-9.68 : Monster Hunter Wilds
+1.02 : Split Fiction
+7.03 : Suikoden I & II HD Remaster
-0.99 : Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Suikoden popped off like crazy while Monster Hunter Wilds has collapsed.

Nothing jumping out from New Jersey yet, like last year with the stuffer. Split Fiction and Monster Hunter are both overperforming there at the moment, but nothing definitive.

Leonhart4 posted...

Boy we really aren't playing new games anymore

Two remasters have 40% of the vote

Oh people here still buy new games at only a slightly lower rate than before:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/9853-when-is-the-last-time-you-bought-a-new-game

I think it’s more about being disconnected from the major games coming out. Also, very suspicious of that Suikoden result, just no reason for it to go up by that much on its own.

Thank you so much for posting anniversary retrospectives on all the contest matches with major anniversaries last year, Leon. I really enjoyed reading and following along!

No problem! It's been fun and a way to keep the memories of old contests alive.

Yeah, the retrospectives have been a lot of fun.

Wow, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is getting its ass kicked by a bunch of remasters. I bet the fanboys complaining about how Clair Obscur isn't "a real RPG" are frothing at the mouth.

It's in third place by like 150 votes dude.

Hah, I actually got the first vote.

Clair Obscur time

….I just now got the reference that Blue Prince is a game about blueprints.

I’ll see myself out.

Let's see how high it can go.

With how badly Clair Obscur dominated the 'want to win Game Awards' poll, Clair vs. Mario Kart might be the real final.

Did Nintendo fans even like Mario Kart World that much? I've seen mixed feelings about it.

Poor despelote, whatever it is

Still no votes

I enjoyed it and thought it brought interesting mechanics (while having some problems, of course) but I couldn't tell you how people actually think about it since "Nintendo bad" has been f***ing up discourse online for the better part of a year now and it's impossible to tell if someone's a s***ter (whose opinions don't matter on Nintendo games to begin with because they don't play them) or someone who actually plays Nintendo games.

Definitely better than every game besides 8, and I'm starting to think it's better than 8 the more I play. It's better than 8 + Booster Pack at least since that brings the quality of 8 down severely, from >80% good tracks to less than half the game being good tracks with all the ugly mobile slop transplanted into the game.

I feel like MKW isn't as well liked as MK8. I'm not too sure how recent patches have affected MKW, though.

I feel like World had issues at launch and it will gradually get better over the life of the Switch 2, since I imagine Nintendo will support it all the way through like they did with MK8.

KamikazePotato posted...

Did Nintendo fans even like Mario Kart World that much? I've seen mixed feelings about it.

I mean the closest competition is Donkey Kong Bonanza, which got more than tripled by Clair Obscur.

If Top 2 advance again, maybe we get to see MKW go head to head with Bonanza.

Watch out for Kirby Air Riders imhotbqh

World is very disappointing. The fact that it's still easily getting 2nd here proves how Nintendo-pilled this site still is.

Seanchan posted...

World is very disappointing. The fact that it's still easily getting 2nd here proves how Nintendo-pilled this site still is.

While i agree it's still is a pretty poor line up of games for Spring.

shane15 posted...

While i agree it's still is a pretty poor line up of games for Spring.

Hundred Line is great and something of a gamefaqs game

justice for blue prince

Nah, hard disagree that World is disappointing. It was very successful and semi-divided opinions wont show in a poll with this many options where one dominates so heavily so it really doesn't prove anything. Not that the site isn't Nintendo piled but this doesn't say anything about it.

I suppose we'll truly see if Bananza and World get into the same poll. Because there is no f***ing way Bananza shouldn't crush World.

I would expect Bananza to beat World if they end up in a poll together

Clair Obscur now over 50%.

Baldur's Gate 3 got 49% in its poll against debatably lesser competition (at the very least, I doubt there's a game in its poll as strong as MKWorld, but I could be wrong).

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/9421-best-of-2023-summer

The current poll definitely feels stronger. Plus, it has two more entries.

I wonder how well these games would do against Witcher 3 or the juggernauts of the 90s. Two years ago, it felt like a fluke that TotK could release in the same year as a stronger non-Nintendo game. But, it feels like we have an even stronger one in 2025.

Doom can't catch a break. The Dark Ages really should have been on this poll. DOOM Eternal also got snubbed in the GotY 2020 polls.

TeamRocketElite posted...

I wonder how well these games would do against Witcher 3 or the juggernauts of the 90s. Two years ago, it felt like a fluke that TotK could release in the same year as a stronger non-Nintendo game. But, it feels like we have an even stronger one in 2025.

I'd guess both of them beat Witcher 3. How strong is W3 projected to be against MMX or FF6?

I think these recent year GotY polls would be quite misleading in terms of contest strength.

ctesjbuvf posted...

I think these recent year GotY polls would be quite misleading in terms of contest strength.

Yeah, we understand that POTDs don't translate perfectly to contests, but they can give us an idea. Skyrim dominated Skyward Sword that one year, and while it may not have been as strong as predicted, it was still pretty decent. BG3 and Clair Obscur would probably be in the same boat, not that we'll ever get to find out.

Are you thinking that BG3 doesn't beat TotK in a contest or that TotK is a fraud?

ctesjbuvf posted...

I think these recent year GotY polls would be quite misleading in terms of contest strength.

Do you think Witcher 3 beats E33 and BG3?