With the COVID-19 pandemic going on for two years, with new variants emerging, some people are still cooped up in their homes even if some economies are already opening. People, gamers especially, turn to Twitter to converse and express their thoughts and experiences in gaming.

According to the latest data from Twitter, 2021 garnered more than 2.4 billion Tweets about gaming, up 14% year over year and more than 10 times increase from 2017. The fourth quarter was also the biggest for gaming conversation ever on Twitter. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand remain to be top communities for gaming as each earned a spot in the top 10 countries Tweeting the most about gaming globally.

The gaming community around the world came to Twitter to be part of the biggest moments in gaming in 2021, such as the return of in-person esports events and new game releases like Halo Infinite. Interestingly, 2021 is the year where NFTs (non-fungible tokens) take center stage as the media rapidly grew interested in covering news and stories on digital assets.

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Here’s a look at Twitter’s global gaming conversation insights from 2021:

In the Philippines, Genshin Impact (@GenshinImpact) was the Most Tweeted About Game in 2021 followed by other equally-popular games such as Valorant (@PlayVALORANT), Roblox (@Roblox), League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends), and Minecraft (@Minecraft) in the top five. When it comes to esports teams, Team Secret (@teamsecret) is the Most Tweeted About Esports Team in the Philippines in 2021; followed by OG (@OGesports), T1 (@T1), Sentinels (@Sentinels) and G2 ESports (@G2esports).

“As we continue adjusting to life in the middle of a pandemic, people are finding new ways to make connections with various communities, and one of them is through gaming,” said Maurizio Barbieri, head of Sports and Gaming Partnerships for SEA and Greater China at Twitter. “The growing conversations that happened around gaming on Twitter reflect the increasing attention from the public on Twitter about various games, esports teams, and gaming personalities. Twitter is about connecting people and brands to give them the latest updates for the industry through conversations that happen #OnlyOnTwitter,”

2021 was a banner year for gaming, but there is a lot of hype about what we’ll see in 2022. Twitter will be here to help you stay up to date on all the content & conversation from esports events like the Call of Duty League, ESL Pro League, Halo Championship Series, Rocket League Championship Series, Fortnite Championship Series, and Riot Games’ leagues like the LCS, LEC & VCT to major gaming events like E3, Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest, IGN’s Summer of Gaming, Gamescom, The Game Awards & much more.