Here’s what gaming and esports industry leaders are playing in 2024

As July comes to an end, gaming industry leaders are reflecting on their favorite games of the year so far.

2024 has been a difficult year for the gaming industry. In the first six months of the year, publishers laid off thousands of workers as they scrambled to adapt to a general audience shift away from premium console games and toward free-to-play or live-service titles. Despite these challenges, however, game publishers have continued to put out new, high-production-value titles, and movers and shakers in the space are still more than willing to play them.

Digiday contacted 11 leading executives and creators in the gaming space to get a sense of what they’ve had the most fun playing in 2024. Here are their answers. (So far, the winner appears to be “Helldivers 2,” with “EA Sports College Football 25” taking second place.)

Sam Braithwaite, vp of game ecosystems, mobile, at ESL/FACEIT Group:

“’Helldivers 2’s’ release this year reignited my passion for online co-op, and reconnected me with a lot of my friends to play on a regular basis. The game’s moment-by-moment gameplay is cinematic and makes you feel like an action hero, and always gives us moments to joke about after.”

Jordan “EYstreem” Barclay, gaming creator:

“Puzzle and adventure games are often cited to be “past their golden years”. However, ‘Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy’ by Capcom shows that with modern hardware and several meaningful quality of life updates, the classics of Ace Attorney are even better than they’ve ever been and [are] a testament to the unique yet evergreen format of the courthouse. Whether it’s fan favorite characters remastered in HD that you can now animate in-game, or the new game mode options, this classic Phoenix Wright series is still as much fun to play as it was back in 2007.”

Jason Chapman, managing partner at Konvoy Ventures:

“My favorite game that was released this year was ‘Helldivers 2,’ for sure. They moved from a top-down shooter to a third-person shooter. It’s really neat, a really intricate, fun game. If you like that survival mode with a strong quest, ‘Helldivers 2’ has that in spades.”

Chris DeAppolonio, CEO of Evil Geniuses: 

“This may be recency bias but ‘EA Sports College Football 25.’ When has a game, which has had 10+ years of buildup, actually lived up to the hype? That’s an incredible achievement in this day and age. Sure, there’s some flaws but ‘College Football’ has set the bar for all other sports games.”

Chris Enock, CMO at Frost Giant Studios:

“Since ‘Stormgate’ doesn’t launch into Early Access until next week, I’ll mention I was really impressed with ‘Helldivers 2’s’ launch. Having Super Earth as the brand persona through the high impact trailers, ads and social, made the marketing really fun, and pulled the community together — perfect for a co-op game.”

Tim “Esfand” Esfandiari, gaming livestreamer and creator:

“While I haven’t played through as many new games as I would have liked to so far in 2024, I feel like gaming as a whole is in a really good spot right now. ‘College Football 25’ has been an absolute blast since its launch a couple weeks ago. Not only is it the first college football game since 2014, but there has been a ton of new updates that allow for an even deeper dive into the world of college football, it feels a lot like you’re playing an RPG which is what a lot of sports games have started to lean into over the last few years. As someone who was a former SMU football player and staff member, the game does a great job of gamifying a lot of the ways in which actual college programs recruit and carry out the season in a realistic way, which I can definitely appreciate.”

Caylus “Infinite” Cunningham, gaming creator:

“My fans have been super involved with my ‘Supermarket Simulator’ series. They love the characters I have created for the cashiers/stockers in the game. I love the grind aspect of the game and the slow progress system. Seeing your store slowly progress over 100s of hours in game is really cool and with the recent introduction of customization, it really makes it fun to build in your own style. These simulator games have really widened my audience and community. People love following the series and can’t wait for more episodes. It’s made a huge impact on the channel and it always brings fans back. I’d definitely say it’s game of the year.”

Uri Marchand, CEO of Overwolf:

“In the early 90s I got hooked on gaming through real-time strategy games like ‘Dune II’ and ‘StarCraft II,’ immersing myself in the strategic complexities and high paced gameplay that define the genre. Right now I’m shamelessly addicted to ‘Team Fight Tactics’ (TFT) from Riot Games. ‘League of Legends’ is close to my heart and ‘TFT’ offers a more chess-like strategy compared to ‘LoL’ that is a constant reminder of why I fell in love with gaming in the first place.”

Chris Paulson, evp and general manager of games publishing at Skybound Entertainment:

“I’m very excited about our game with Osmotic Studios, ‘Closer the Distance.’ It’s a beautiful, relatable story about love, loss, and grief, and I think it’s very cathartic for anyone going through a difficult time. I also just started ‘Cataclismo,’ and so far I’m super impressed. Beautiful art, simple and intuitive controls, and really fun RTS mechanics. It’s obviously a game made by people who love games (and LEGOs)!”

Andre “Typical Gamer” Rebelo, gaming creator:

“Outside of ‘Fortnite,’ my top game this year is definitely ‘Palworld.’ It’s the second game I’ve spent the most hours in this year, and I find myself constantly coming back to it, even after a full day of recording and streaming. Growing up as the biggest Pokemon fan, it’s incredibly fun and nostalgic to explore a world that pays homage to my all-time favorite IP while offering a fresh and exciting twist.”

Jonathan Stringfield, vp of global revenue and business planning at Microsoft Advertising:

“Thus far this year has been about revisiting some of the best from previous years: I’m finishing up the new (and huge/challenging/awesome) DLC for ‘Elden Ring’ (Shadow of the Erdtree) while adding to my already considerable number of hours played in ‘Diablo 4’ due in part to the massive updates in the latest season.” 

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