Half a decade ago, the gaming world was buzzing about a title that had not even existed the year before—and it wasn’t a shiny new console exclusive or a battle royale giant caught in courtroom drama. It was Genshin Impact, a free-to-play open-world RPG that had taken the globe by storm, especially on mobile devices. Back in 2021, Twitter dropped a list of the most tweeted-about video games year-to-date, and Genshin Impact sat comfortably at the top, beating out heavyweights like Apex Legends and Fortnite. Looking back from 2026, that list still feels like a time capsule of gaming’s weird and wonderful landscape during the early ’20s.
The grip Genshin Impact had on social media was nothing short of bonkers. Released in late September 2020, it had only three months to amass enough chatter to land as the eighth most tweeted game of that entire year. Then, with a PS5 version dropping in April 2021 and a relentless pipeline of updates, new characters, and events, the game practically owned the conversation. MiHoYo (now HoYoverse) perfected the art of keeping players hooked—and tweeting. Every banner reveal, every lore drop, every new region turned into a trending topic. It was the kind of organic, player-driven hype that most publishers can only dream of.
But the 2021 mid-year Twitter chart wasn’t just a victory lap for Genshin. It was a fascinating snapshot of the global gaming audience’s divided attention spans. Here’s the full top ten from that list, straight from the bird app’s beak:
| Rank | Game |
|---|---|
| 1 | Genshin Impact |
| 2 | Apex Legends |
| 3 | Ensemble Stars! |
| 4 | Final Fantasy |
| 5 | Animal Crossing |
| 6 | Knives Out |
| 7 | Fortnite |
| 8 | Monster Hunter |
| 9 | Fate/Grand Order |
| 10 | Minecraft |
For a lot of Western gamers, especially those glued to their consoles and PCs, some of these names might have raised an eyebrow. Ensemble Stars! at number 3? Knives Out at number 6? That’s the beauty of tracking global tweets—it surfaces the mobile and Japanese market beasts that often fly under the radar of traditional media. Ensemble Stars!, a male idol-raising rhythm game, had a ferociously dedicated fanbase that treated Twitter like a second home. Knives Out, a battle royale mobile title with absolutely zero connection to the film of the same name, proved that the genre wasn’t just owned by Fortnite and PUBG. And Fate/Grand Order, a mobile RPG juggernaut, kept its stay-at-home masters tweeting about summoning salt and story twists.
Meanwhile, Final Fantasy grabbed the number 4 spot, but the magic lay in its ambiguity—the data lumped all Final Fantasy chatter together, from XIV’s ongoing expansions to the hype for XVI, and even nostalgia for the pixel days. It showed how a storied franchise could still dominate conversations without hinging on a single release. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which had been the pandemic escape in 2020, slipped to fifth but remained a cozy corner of Twitter where players shared turnip prices and dream addresses.
E3 2021, which happened just before that mid-year list, also stirred up its own Twitter storm. The most talked-about games from the show were a different beast entirely, driven by sheer anticipation rather than daily grinding. The top five from E3 looked like this:
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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel (now known as Tears of the Kingdom, which finally launched in 2023)
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Elden Ring
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Battlefield 2042
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Halo Infinite
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Forza Horizon 5
That Zelda teaser sent the internet into a meltdown—people dissected every second of that short clip, and it became the most tweeted game of the entire show. Elden Ring, fresh off its Summer Game Fest gameplay reveal, had the Soulsborne faithful foaming at the mouth. Battlefield 2042 promised massive-scale warfare, though its eventual launch was… let’s just say, a character-building experience for the devs. Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 rounded out the list, showing that Xbox’s heavy hitters still had plenty of chatter left in the tank.
So, how did the rest of 2021 play out on Twitter? Genshin Impact held its crown, thanks to the never-ending content firehose. But the E3 standouts eventually had their moments—Elden Ring exploded in early 2022 and became a cultural phenomenon. The Breath of the Wild sequel, after a long silence, finally arrived and dominated timelines. The lesson? Twitter chatter is a weird mix of what’s currently playable, what’s deeply beloved, and what’s being anxiously awaited.
Fast forward to 2026, and the landscape has evolved. Genshin Impact is still a titan, but it now shares the stage with Zenless Zone Zero and the hotly anticipated GTA VI, which has been breaking tweet records just by existing. The mobile market has only gotten more influential, with games like Honkai: Star Rail and Arknights: Endfield pulling massive social numbers. Yet, looking back at that 2021 snapshot, it’s clear that the same recipe for Twitter success persists: a dedicated community, constant surprises, and just enough drama to keep the timeline spicy. Some things never change, right? Even if Twitter itself now answers to a different name.
That mid-pandemic era was a golden age for gaming discourse, and those tweet counts were the receipts. The numbers don’t lie—Genshin Impact was the main character of 2021, and its ripples are still being felt today. Whether you were pulling for Hu Tao, crying over Elden Ring lore, or just sharing your Animal Crossing island, you were part of a global conversation that shaped what it means to be a game in the social media age. And really, isn’t that worth a tweet or two?