In September 2025, the audience for entertainment-based properties reached over 200 million across all forms of engagement—confirming audiences’ continued hunger for dark, high-concept worlds. Borderlands (19.5M) topped the leaderboard with a 26% month-over-month rise, driven by the release of its latest installment, Borderlands 4. Tomb Raider (+24.5%) and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog (+24%) followed close behind, signaling strong audience appetite for reimagined classics that merge nostalgia with fresh interactive formats.
Sports titles like NBA 2K (22.1M) and the NFL (25.7M) remained consistent cultural anchors through seasonal engagement and community participation. Meanwhile, horror and sci-fi IPs such as Silent Hill (+14%) and Alien (+12%) continued their momentum, reflecting a broader audience fascination with darker, narrative-driven experiences.
Notably, Dragon Ball (30.4M) sustained its crossover dominance, balancing anime fandom with interactive engagement, while Metal Gear and Gears of War signaled early revival energy as interest in tactical action games rebounds.
This month’s ALDORA leaderboard showcases the recession-proof qualities of the horror and sci-fi genres, which drive social and monetary engagement. As the season turns, those who can deliver psychologically twisted, grotesque, and chilling experiences rise to the top of the charts.
ALDORA tracks brand performance across five dimensions of the gaming ecosystem—Play (direct gameplay), Watch (streaming and video content), Connect (social interactions), Create (user-generated content), and Spend (in-game purchases and merchandise)—aggregating these diverse engagement signals into a unified measure of audience reach.
Horror and Sci-Fi Are Driving Premium Engagement.
Five of this month’s top performers—Silent Hill (+14%), Alien (+12%), Dying Light (+7%), Sonic the Hedgehog (+24%), and Avatar (+11%)—underscore how dark, high-concept worlds command sustained attention. These franchises may not always top for reach, but they consistently overindex in play and connect behaviors, signaling deeper audience investment. Horror and sci-fi players don’t just show up—they stay, replay, and discuss.
Nostalgia Is a Growth Engine for Genre IP.
Legacy titles are proving that emotional continuity drives growth as effectively as novelty. Silent Hill’s 14% rise and Gears of War’s 8% growth show how modern reboots and remasters reignite dormant fan bases. These IPs succeed not by chasing new audiences but by reactivating long-standing communities—turning collective memory into measurable momentum.
Sci-Fi Worlds Enable Ecosystem Expansion.
Alien (+12%) and Avatar (+11%) illustrate how sci-fi IP functions as multi-format platforms rather than one-off releases. Their expansive worldbuilding enables fans to fluidly move between play, watch, and connect behaviors. With Alien gaining in create (+15) and Avatar maintaining broad reach (27.3M), both prove the scalability of transmedia storytelling.
Genre Depth Beats Mass Appeal.
While mainstream IPs like NBA 2K (+23%, 22.1M reach) dominate in scale, genre-driven franchises such as Silent Hill (+14%) and Dying Light (+7%) demonstrate deeper engagement per user. Despite their smaller audiences—2.6M and 7M respectively—both titles show strong connect activity (+17 and +20), signaling tighter, more participatory communities. These properties trade mass visibility for intensity, offering a model for sustainable fan economies as attention continues to fragment across platforms.
Legacy IP Is Finding New Life Through Interaction.
Once confined to linear formats, classic franchises are thriving through interactivity. Silent Hill’s return as an interactive narrative, Alien’s expansion into serialized streaming, and Sonic the Hedgehog’s cross-platform growth (+24%)—including brand partnerships with the Olympics and Waze—all point to a single trend: nostalgia is no longer static; it’s participatory.
Who will top—or drop from—next month’s ALDORA Leaderboard? Stay tuned to find out.
Analysis by ALDORA CEO Joost van Dreunen
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