Minecraft Still Popular On YouTube, But God of War Is Catching Up

YouTube gaming is still doing quite well, with millions of streamers and video producers posting clips from their favorite hits. And while Fortnite still has an iron grip on the top spot, Minecraft is still doing quite well after all these years. But there's a surprising competitor on the rise.

A new report from Matchmade indicates that Fortnite still rules the roost when it comes to YouTube gaming, with 5.09 billion views for the month of April 2018. But Mojang's little blocky adventure is no slouch, sitting in a comfortable second place spot with 2.39 billion views.

That said, God of War, which came out last month for PlayStation 4, is hot on its heels. The action/adventure featuring the mighty Kratos landed in the third place spot with 728 million views. There's a good chance that will keep building up as June comes around, as the game is still benefiting from both strong word-of-mouth and YouTube growth. In fact, it grew 1402 percent between March and April.

Rounding out the top five is the hit game ROBLOX with 717 million views and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, with a slightly lesser count of 553 million views.

Here are some other points posted by Matchmade:

• In March and April, Fortnite reached 9.7 billion total views on YouTube (5.1bn views in Apr, 4.6bn in Mar), which is a growth of 93% comparing to January and February.
• In the months of Jan - Feb, Fortnite reached total views of 5.1 billion, and was the second most viewed game behind Minecraft (6.98bn views Jan-Feb).
• In March, Fortnite surpassed Minecraft as the most viewed game on YouTube, and now continues to reign.
• In April alone, over 33 000 videos were posted about Fortnite.
• Everyone is watching Fortnite and also all the fastest growing YouTube channels are about the game.

So the question is whether God of War can overcome Minecraft or if it can maintain its steady second place spot. There's obviously a lot of work to be done before Fortnite can be toppled, so it's all about the runner-up position.

There's a good chance the new Aquatic update could help Minecraft gain a little ground, but we'll have to wait and see.

(Hat tip to Matchmade for the details!)