Archive of Our Own, otherwise known as AO3, is labeled on its homepage as "A fan-created, fan-run, nonprofit, noncommercial archive for transformative fanworks, like fanfiction, fanart, fan videos, and podfic." These qualities make AO3 one of the most popular websites for posting fan-made works, with a focus on fanfiction.
RELATED: The 10 Most Iconic Opening Cutscenes In Video Games, RankedHow many works a fandom has on AO3 can say a lot about the popularity of its source material and how it inspires creativity in 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 narrative, though demographics sometimes play a role. Since AO3's numbers are always changing, it's worth noting that all of the numbers below were recorded on 8/26/2022.
10 Mass Effect Makes Its Mark
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 making up the other 4,422.
Given Mass Effect's commitment to immersing players in its story, allowing them to not only customize their protagonist but make the choices that define their world, it makes sense that fans would want to continue or elaborate on the stories they crafted in the game's world. The franchise's popularity as a narrative-driven game translates to 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 one particular game in the series. Persona 5 accounts for 23,781 of the franchise's published pieces, outnumbering many other game series entirely on its own.
RELATED: 9 Persona 5 Characters With The Most DevelopmentPersona 5, released in 2016, is well-known among gamers for its complex psychological narratives, focus on day-to-day activities as a core aspect of gameplay, and beloved jazz-based soundtrack. It's currently the most recent entry in the main Persona series but its success makes sequels feel likely.
8 Shin Megami Tensei Directly Supercedes 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 If... helped inspire the Persona series.
Shin Megami Tensei has spanned many consoles and formats since its inception in 1987, including mobile games. It made an attempt to enter the realm of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, as well, in 2007. Shin Megami Tensei's intricate lore 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 has far more lore associated with it than gamers would assume at first glance. Each hero from the game's roster has a dedicated backstory intertwined with the Overwatch organization's history and mission.
On Archive of Our Own, there are 37,087 works published under Overwatch's fandom tag. Some of the most common character interactions explored within Overwatch fics are the relationships between Cole Cassidy and Hanzo Shimada, with 6,679 posted works, and Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison with 5,430 published pieces. The key here seems to be the game's focus on characters and personalities over guns.
6 Undertale Spawned Abundant Alternate Universes
Undertale took the gaming world by storm when it was released in 2015. This indie hit not only found immense popularity among gamers but among fanfiction writers as well. Undertale currently has 46,988 fics posted on Archive of Our Own. A significant amount of these are what fanfiction writers and readers call AUs, or alternate universes.
These AU fics feature versions of Undertale's 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 Leans Heavily On Three Houses
The overall tag for the Fire Emblem series boasts 67,182 fanworks on Archive of Our Own. The vast majority of these works can be attributed to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which accounts for 39,901 stories on its own.
RELATED: 10 Times Fire Emblem Games Broke Their Own RulesFire Emblem is another series whose appeal for fanfiction authors makes intuitive sense. It has multiple routes and timelines based on which characters the player chooses to befriend and romance during their playthroughs. Fanfiction can then continue these characters' stories and relationships, or even fill in the gaps that the games don't show.
4 Dragon Age Divides Slightly More Evenly
The Dragon Age games have a total of 70,458 published pieces on AO3. Unlike some of the other most popular series, however, the works for this franchise are divided more equally between individual games.
Dragon Age: Inquisition has the most of individual titles listed 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 pathways, character romances, and player-choice mechanics, Dragon Age's multiple possible timelines inspire a broad 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 massive presence on Archive of Our Own. In a comparatively short amount of time, this action-roleplaying game has accumulated 87,921 published fanworks.
Genshin Impact's intricate and deeply woven lore and extensive roster of characters make it an ideal subject for fanfiction writers to explore, which they have done with rampant enthusiasm. Inter-character relationships are important in this game's fanworks. The most popular pairing is Tartaglia and Zhongli, with 9,867 works.
2 Final Fantasy Is An Unstoppable Force
The Final Fantasy franchise not only includes vast sagas but it has also accrued massive popularity over the course of its career. These facts, combined with the series' epic storylines, make it an absolute and undeniable presence in gaming fandom spaces.
RELATED: 10 Things To Do In FFXIV When Not Saving The WorldOn Archive of Our Own, the Final Fantasy Series' tag includes 90,298 fanworks. Final Fantasy XIV and the original 1997 version of Final Fantasy VII boast the largest numbers for individual games, with 13,435 and 25,496 works under their specific tags, respectively. This is partially due to the series' longevity, since fans have likely been writing FF fanfic since the series' inception in 1987.
1 Minecraft Can Be Approached From Many Angles
For such a simple game with a relatively unstructured narrative, Minecraft makes the biggest mark of any game on AO3. This blocky crafting and survival game boasts 96,486 published works on Archive of Our Own.
The primary reason for Minecraft's popularity on AO3 is Minecraft's insistence on player creativity. Fanworks filed under the game's tag span everything from stories about the lore of the game's world itself to works about roleplay servers and the streamers' characters that populate them, which each have their own dedicated fanbase.
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