Call of Duty WW2 and Assassin’s Creed Origins are top of Nielsen’s most anticipated holiday games this year

Infinite what? Call of Duty is back on top.

Call of Duty: WW2 has scored the highest on analysis firm Nielsen‘s most anticipated holiday releases. What a bounce back from last year’s unpopular Infinite Warfare, which reviewed okay, sold better, but fell off activity charts with astonishing speed compared to other Call of Duty games.

Looking at multi-platform holiday releases, Nielsen’s research concluded “overall anticipation” for Call of Duty: WW2 is higher than 99% of previous games when at that same point in the pre-release cycle. Goodness.

Assassin’s Creed Origins came in a close second place at 95%, which must be pleasant news to Ubisoft after a rough couple of years in which the former blockbuster franchise’s future looked a little uncertain.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 unsurprisingly was in third at 90% – the hype for this week’s extended beta made it clear this one is going places. In fourth place we have WWE 2K18 at 80%, which will probably seem less astonishing when you remember it sells like hotcakes every year because we apparently never learn.

Breaking it down to single-platforms, Xbox One players were most looking forward to Forza 7 at the time of Nielsen’s survey, and Gran Turismo Sport topped the PS4 list – both at 85%. This isn’t surprising either; both racers are just about the only notable exclusives arriving this season.

On Switch, it is of course Super Mario Odyssey that has won the most hearts at a tidy 96%. 3DS gamers are looking forward to Pokemon Ultra Sun & Moon at 97%.

On PC, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is the top bet with 92%.

Nielsen sent us an infographic with this information on it, but you know how we feel about those.