Numerous video games were released in 2016. New hardware came out as well, albeit largely refreshed and updated versions of consoles in the PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 4 Slim, and Xbox One S. Commercially available

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

headsets were released in much greater numbers and at much lower price points than the enthusiast-only virtual reality headsets of earlier generations.

Augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

also became mainstream with '' Pokémon Go''. Top-rated games originally released in 2016 included '' Uncharted 4: A Thief's End'', ''

Inside Inside may refer to: Film * ''Inside'' (1996 film), an American television film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Eric Stoltz * ''Inside'' (2002 film), a Canadian prison drama film * ''Inside'' (2006 film), an American thriller film starri ...

'', ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

'', '' Forza Horizon 3'', '' Madden NFL 17'', '' WWE 2K17'', ''

NBA 2K17 ''NBA 2K17'' is a 2016 basketball video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K (company), 2K. It is the 18th installment in the ''NBA 2K'' franchise and the successor to ''NBA 2K16''. It was released worldwide on September 20, 20 ...

'', '' Dark Souls III'', and '' Battlefield 1'' and '' Doom 2016''. The top five highest-grossing video games of 2016 were ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

'', '' Honor of Kings/ Arena of Valor'', '' Monster Strike'', ''

Clash of Clans ''Clash of Clans'' is a 2012 free-to-play mobile strategy video game developed and published by Supercell. The game was released for iOS platforms on 2 August 2012, and on Google Play for Android on 7 October 2013. Since 2016, an animated ...

'', and ''

Dungeon Fighter Online ''Dungeon Fighter Online'', known in South Korea as ''Dungeon & Fighter'', is a multiplayer beat 'em up action role-playing game, developed and published for personal computers by Neople, a South Korean subsidiary of Nexon, and originally publi ...

''.

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed titles

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

(MC) and

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

(GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.

Financial performance

Analysis firm SuperData estimated that the global video game software market brought in $91 billion in revenues in 2016; this was an increase over the $74 billion estimated for 2015, but SuperData noted that their 2016 estimates included a larger data set. Of the $91 billion, $41 billion was attributed to

mobile gaming A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to handheld game conso ...

, particularly the titles '' Clash Royale'' and '' Pokémon Go'', with the largest mobile gaming section in Asia with total revenues near $25 billion. Personal computer video games made up $34 billion, with $19 billion contributed from

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

games, and console games, retail and downloadable, were $26 and $6.6 billion, respectively. The firm also identified that

(VR), professional video game sports, and

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

were still growing markets in the year. DFC Intelligence reported similar numbers for revenues in the various sectors, and noted that mobile gaming revenues overtook both console and personal computer revenues in 2016. Newzoo estimated that $70.4 billion of video game revenues were made by the top 25 publicly-trading companies, led by

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...

($10.2B),

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

($7.9B),

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

($6.6B),

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

($6.5B) and Apple, Inc. ($5.9B). The top ten companies brought in more than 54% of total revenues during 2016, up from 43% in 2015.

IHS Markit Accuris is an information services provider. History IHS Information Handling Services (IHS) "was founded in 1959 as Information Handling Services to provide information for aerospace engineers through microfilm databases". It subsequently gre ...

estimated that worldwide revenue related to console hardware, software, and services was $34.7 billion, down about 2.5% from 2015; hardware sales were down from $12.8 billion to $10.5 billion, while software and service revenues were up. Sony held about 57% of the market share during 2016, followed by Microsoft and Nintendo. Within the United States, revenues from the video game industry in 2016 was estimated at $30.4 billion by the

Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based in ...

and NPD Group, slightly up from 2015's $30.2 billion. Of that, $24.5 billion was spent on video game software, an increase of 6% from 2015. Digital purchases, which included full game purchases, downloadable content, game subscriptions, and mobile game microtransactions, made up 74% of this number, continuing a steady increase of digital sales over retail since 2010. Sales were driven by the introduction of VR, ''Pokémon Go'' and ''Pokémon Sun'' and ''Moon'', and the games '' Battlefield 1'', '' Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare'', '' Madden NFL 17'', ''

'' and ''

Tom Clancy's The Division ''Tom Clancy's The Division'' is a 2016 online-only action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. It was released on 8 March for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is set in a near ...

''.

Highest-grossing games

The following were 2016's top ten highest-grossing video games worldwide in terms of digital revenue (including digital purchases,

microtransaction Microtransaction (mtx) refers to a business model where users can purchase in-game virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransactions ...

and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including mobile, PC and

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

platforms). Six of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by

Events

Notable deaths

* February 3 – Joe Alaskey, 63, voice actor known for the voice of

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

and others in the ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' franchise. * March 17 – Larry Drake, 67, voice actor known for the voice of Kazdan Paratus in '' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed''. * June 3 –

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

, 74, boxer who appeared in '' Muhammad Ali Heavyweight Boxing'', '' Foes of Ali'', '' Knockout Kings'', '' UFC 5'', and '' WWE 2K24''. * June 10 –

Christina Grimmie Christina Victoria Grimmie (March 12, 1994 – June 10, 2016) was an American singer and internet personality. In 2009, she began posting covers of popular songs onto YouTube. After releasing her debut EP, '' Find Me'' (2011), her YouTube c ...

, 22, music YouTuber known as zeldaxlove64 and host of Disney.com's gaming show ''Power Up''. Grimmie also appeared in a commercial for the

Kinect Kinect is a discontinued line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB color model, RGB cameras, and Thermographic camera, infrared projectors and detectors that map dep ...

Hardware releases

The list of game-related hardware released in 2016 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Series with new entries

Series with new installments in 2016 include '' Ace Attorney'', ''

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troop ...

'', ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...

'', ''

Civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of state (polity), the state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyon ...

'', ''

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

'', ''

Dark Souls is a dark fantasy action role-playing game series developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the series began with the release of ''Dark Souls (video game), Dark Souls'' (2011) and has ...

'', '' Dead Rising'', '' Deus Ex'', '' Dishonored'', ''

Digimon , short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise, which encompasses virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films, and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures who inhabit a ...

'', '' Doom'', '' Driveclub'', ''

Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequently, Ubisoft obtained ...

'', ''

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

'', ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'', ''

Fire Emblem is a Video games in Japan, Japanese fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, the series currently con ...

'', '' Forza Horizon'', ''

Gears of War ''Gears of War'' (also referred to as ''Gears'') is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition (company), The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The ...

'', '' Hearts of Iron'', ''

Hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

'', '' Homefront'', '' Homeworld'', '' Kirby'', ''

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

'', ''

Mario Party is a series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...

'', '' Master of Orion'', ''

Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the power of the parasitic M ...

'', ''

Mirror's Edge ''Mirror's Edge'' is a 2008 action-adventure platform game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2008, and for Windows in January 2009. Set in a near-future city, i ...

'', ''

Paper Mario ''Paper Mario'' is a video game series and part of the ''Mario'' franchise, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It combines elements from the role-playing, action-adventure, and puzzle genres. Players control a ...

'', ''

Persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

'', '' Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare'', '' The Playroom'', ''

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

'', ''

Ratchet & Clank ''Ratchet & Clank'' is a series of Action-adventure game, action-adventure Platform game, platform and third-person shooter video games created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. High Impact Games ...

'', '' Shadow of the Beast'', '' Shadow Warrior'', ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

'', ''

Star Fox ''Star Fox'' is a rail shooter, space flight simulator, and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic a ...

'', ''

Star Ocean is a franchise of science fantasy Action role-playing video game, Action role-playing video games developed by the Japanese company tri-Ace and published by Square Enix (formerly Enix). Development History ''Star Ocean'' is known as one of the ...

'', ''

Street Fighter is a Media mix, Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. Street Fighter 1, The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by List of Street Fighter video games, six other ma ...

'', '' Titanfall'', ''

Total War Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all (including civilian-associated) resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilises all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare ov ...

'', ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who trav ...

'', '' Watch Dogs'', ''

XCOM ''XCOM'' (originally called ''X-COM'') is a science fiction video game franchise featuring an elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of Earth. The series began with the strategy video game '' UFO: Enemy Unknown' ...

'', and '' Zero Escape''. In addition, 2016 saw the introduction of several new properties, including '' Abzû'', '' Hyper Light Drifter'', ''

'', ''

The Last Guardian ''The Last Guardian'' is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and GenDesign and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Players control a boy who befriends a giant legendary creature named Trico. ...

'', ''

No Man's Sky ''No Man's Sky'' is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure survival game developed and published by Hello Games. It was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Windows in August 2016, for Xbox One in July 2018, for the PlayStation 5 an ...

'', '' Owlboy'', ''

Obduction Obduction is a geological process whereby denser oceanic crust (and even upper mantle) is scraped off a descending ocean plate at a convergent plate boundary and thrust on top of an adjacent plate. When oceanic and continental plates converge, ...

'', ''

'', '' Quantum Break'', '' Stardew Valley'', ''

'', and '' The Witness''.

Game releases

The list of games released in 2016 in

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

Cancelled games

Cancelled

* '' Batman: Arkham Knight'' (

Mac Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

, Lin) * '' EverQuest Next'' ( Win, PS4) * ''

Fable Legends ''Fable Legends'' is a cancelled Cooperative video game, cooperative Action role-playing game, action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and projected to be published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One. Microsoft ca ...

'' ( Win, XBO) * '' Halo Online'' ( Win) * '' Hyper Light Drifter'' ( PSVita,

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

) * '' Nosgoth'' ( Win) * '' Not a Hero'' ( PSVita) * '' Project: Knoxville'' ( XBO) * '' Rising Thunder'' ( Win) * '' Scribblenauts: Fighting Words'' (

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

) * '' Shantae: Half-Genie Hero'' (

PS3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

, X360) * '' Triad Wars'' ( Win) * '' The Walking Dead: Season Three'' (

, X360) * Unnamed extreme sports game by

Criterion Games Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford. Founded in January 1996 as a Division (business), division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2 ...

* '' Whore of the Orient'' ( Win, PS4, XBO) * '' Yooka-Laylee'' (

)

Discontinued

* '' Darkspore'' ( Win) * '' Dust 514'' (

) * '' Might & Magic: Duel of Champions'' ( Win) * '' PlanetSide'' ( Win) * '' Project Spark'' ( Win, X360, XBO) * '' The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot'' ( Win) * '' Tom Clancy's EndWar Online'' ( Win) * '' Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms'' ( Win)

References

Notes

* The release date is slated for Japan only. * A western or worldwide release of previously regional exclusive games. * These games were targeted to be released in

fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

2017, which begins on April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017.

Footnotes

{{History of video games Video games by year

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed titles

Financial performance

Highest-grossing games

Events

Notable deaths

Hardware releases

Series with new entries

Game releases

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

Cancelled games

Cancelled

Discontinued

See also

References

Notes

Footnotes