Elden Ring got more YouTube views at launch than GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 combined

Elden Ring videos collectively got 3.4 billion views on YouTube in the 60 days following the game's launch, beating the combined viewership for GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 videos for the same post-launch window.

A recent infographic from the YouTube Gaming Twitter account put Elden Ring's launch into perspective. GTA 5 saw 1.9 billion views in the 60 days after its launch, while Red Dead Redemption 2 got 1.4 billion, Super Mario Odyssey got 828 million, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild saw 638 million, and Skyrim got 456 million back in its heyday. 

This smattering of open-world hits is an interesting dissection of platforms as well as player and viewer behavior. Elden Ring dominated discussion throughout the entire games industry for several months, so its turnout isn't a massive surprise. It was also notably released on multiple platforms, giving it an edge over the Switch-exclusive Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. 

Meanwhile, GTA 5 and Skyrim, which were also multiplatform, came out roughly eight and 11 years ago, respectively. This was back when YouTube was a much smaller platform running on a very different algorithm, to say nothing of the size of the games industry at the time. There were surely plenty of other factors at play, but Elden Ring was definitely uniquely primed to take over YouTube. It has a lot of discoveries to share, hidden items to look up, and bosses to make guides for. 

YouTube Gaming also highlighted some standout creators, including FromSoftware lore master VaatiVidya and software sleuth Zullie the Witch, whose investigations have turned up everything from unused Dark Souls 3 bosses to bugged blood dogs that can one-shot anything in the game. Speedrunner Distortion2, who set the record for the first sub-7 minute clear of the game (in the any% category, as you may have deduced), got a shoutout as well. 

The post also includes some more detailed subject breakdowns. It's a little unclear how videos were categorized, but it seems the Elden Ring boss with the most related videos was actually Margit, the Fell Omen, the first main boss in the game. The infamously powerful Malenia – who used to be even harder to beat – ranks second, which might come as a surprise. But remember, this is looking at the first 60 days of Elden Ring content, meaning more people would've encountered (and looked up or shared guides for) Margit, who you find quite early on, than Malenia, who's buried in an optional late-game area. If anything, the fact that Malenia was already in the top two by this point is testament to how brutal her fight really is. 

One Elden Ring player is beating Malenia with a new build every day until DLC is announced.