Archive of Our Own, also known as AO3, is labeled on its homepage as “A fan-created, fan-run, non-profit, non-commercial archive for transformative fan works, such as fan fiction, fan art, fan videos, and podfic.” These qualities make AO3 one of the most popular websites for posting fan-made works, with a focus on fan fiction.
How many works a fandom has on AO3 can say a lot about the popularity of the source material and how it inspires the creativity of its fans. Some incredibly successful video games haven’t inspired fans the way smaller franchises have spawned stories. Sometimes this is because a game isn’t based on a strong story, although sometimes demographics play a role. Since AO3’s songs are always changing, it’s worth noting that all of the songs below were recorded on 8/26/2022.
10 Mass Effect impresses
The AO3 tag for the Mass effect series as a whole has 29,013 fanworks posted under its umbrella. The Mass effect trilogy accounts for 24,467 of them, with Mass Effect: Andromeda the other 4,422 form.
Given Mass effect‘s commitment to immersing players in the story, allowing them to not only customize their protagonist, but also make the choices that shape their world, it makes sense that fans should share the stories they’ve made in the game’s world. want to continue or develop. The franchise’s popularity as a story-driven game translates into popularity among fanfiction writers.
9 Persona 5 is easily the most popular of its franchise
The Persona series has 33,170 works under its tag on Archive of Our Own. However, the vast majority of these are assigned to a particular game in the series. Persona 5 accounts for 23,781 of the franchise’s published pieces and surpasses many other game series on its own.
person 5, Released in 2016, it is known by gamers for its complex psychological storytelling, focus on daily activities as a core aspect of gameplay, and much-loved jazz-based soundtrack. It is currently the most recent entry in the main article Persona series, but its success makes sequels likely.
8 Shin Megami Tensei Directly Replaces Its Spin-Off Series
The next most popular fandom in AO3’s video game category is the Shin Megami Tensei series, with 35,301 published works. This is a fitting position for it, as the 1994 game Shin Megami Tensei As… helped inspire the Persona series.
Shin Megami Tensei has covered many consoles and formats since its inception in 1987, including mobile games. It also made an attempt to enter the realm of massively multiplayer online role-playing games in 2007. Shin Megami Tensei‘s intricate knowledge and intriguing concepts make it well suited for fanfiction.
7 Overwatch has more than meets the eye
Despite being a multiplayer first-person shooter, overwatch is much more knowledgeable about it than gamers might think at first glance. Each hero from the game’s roster has a special backstory woven into the history and mission of the Overwatch organization.
On Archive of Our Own there are 37,087 works published under overwatch‘s fandom tag. Some of the most common character interactions explored in overwatch fics are the relationships between Cole Cassidy and Hanzo Shimada, with 6,679 works posted, and Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison with 5,430 pieces published. The key here seems to be the game’s focus on characters and personalities over weapons.
6 Undertale spawned abundant alternate universes
undertale took the gaming world by storm when it was released in 2015. This indie hit became hugely popular not only with gamers, but also with fanfiction writers. undertale currently has 46,988 fics posted to Our Own Archive. A significant portion of this is what fanfiction writers and readers refer to as AUs or alternate universes.
These AU fics contain versions of undertalethe world with specific, outlined differences, such as character personalities or baseline themes. The most popular AUs have their own names with the most popular being Underfell, Underswap and a combination of the two known as Swapfell.
5 Fire Emblem relies heavily on three houses
The general tag for the fire emblem series has 67,182 fanworks on Archive of Our Own. The vast majority of these works can be attributed to: Fire Emblem: Three Houseswhich in itself contains 39,901 stories.
fire emblem is another series whose appeal to fanfiction authors makes intuitive sense. It has multiple routes and timelines based on the characters the player chooses to engage in friendship and romance during their playthroughs. Fanfiction can then continue the stories and relationships of these characters, or even fill in the gaps that the games don’t show.
4 Dragon Age distributes slightly more evenly
The dragon era games have a total of 70,458 published pieces on AO3. However, unlike some of the other most popular series, the works for this franchise are more evenly spread across individual games.
Dragon Age: Inquisition has the most individual titles on AO3, with 41,487 works, while Dragon Age II lists 17,723 and Dragon Age: Origins contributes 13,974. As another game with branching paths, character romances, and player-selection mechanics, dragon era‘s multiple possible timelines inspire a wide spectrum of fanfiction for players to enjoy.
3 Genshin Impact made an impressive entrance
Despite its relatively recent release in 2020, Genshin impact has a huge presence on Archive of Our Own. In a relatively short period of time, this action role-playing game has amassed 87,921 published fanworks.
Genshin impact‘s intricate and deeply woven knowledge and vast selection of characters make it an ideal subject for fanfiction writers to explore, which they have done with unbridled enthusiasm. Relationships between characters are important in this game’s fanworks. The most popular combination is Tartaglia and Zhongli, with 9,867 works.
2 Final Fantasy is an unstoppable force
The Final Fantasy franchise not only includes huge sagas but has also become hugely popular over the course of its career. These facts, combined with the epic storylines of the series, make it an absolute and undeniable presence in gaming fandom spaces.
On our own archive, the Final Fantasy The tag of the series contains 90,298 fanworks. Final Fantasy XIVand the original 1997 version of Final Fantasy VIIhave the highest numbers for individual games, with 13,435 and 25,496 works under their specific tags respectively. This is partly due to the longevity of the series, as fans probably wrote FF fanfic since the start of the series in 1987.
1 Minecraft can be approached from many angles
For such a simple game with a relatively unstructured story, Minecraft makes the biggest impression of any game on AO3. This blocky crafting and survival game features 96,486 published works on Archive of Our Own.
The main reason for Minecraft‘s popularity on AO3 is Minecraft‘s insistence on players’ creativity. Fanworks stored under the game’s tag include everything from stories about the lore of the game’s world itself to works about roleplay servers and the characters of the streamers that populate them, each of which has their own dedicated fanbase.
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