Numerous video games were released in 2018. Best-selling games included '' Madden NFL 19'', '' NBA 2K19'', '' NBA Live 19'', '' WWE 2K19'', '' Call of Duty: Black Ops 4'', '' Marvel's Spider-Man'', ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in a fictiona ...

'', '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', '' Far Cry 5'', ''

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheism, polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their ...

'', '' Monster Hunter: World'', ''

Assassin's Creed Odyssey ''Assassin's Creed Odyssey'' is a 2018 action role-playing game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft. It is the eleventh major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series and the successor to ''Assassin's Creed Origins'' (2 ...

'', '' Spyro Reignited Trilogy'', and '' Dragon Ball FighterZ''. Games highly regarded by video game critics released in 2018 included ''Red Dead Redemption 2'', ''God of War'', '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', '' Marvel's Spider-Man'', '' Forza Horizon 4'', ''Monster Hunter: World'', ''

Dead Cells ''Dead Cells'' is a 2018 roguelike-Metroidvania game developed by Motion Twin and Evil Empire (company), Evil Empire, and published by Motion Twin. The player takes the role of an amorphous creature called the Prisoner. As the Prisoner, the pla ...

'', '' Return of the Obra Dinn'', and '' Celeste''. The year's highest-grossing games included '' Fortnite'', '' Honor of Kings/ Arena of Valor'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and '' Pokémon Go''. Among major trends in 2018 included the explosive growth of

battle royale game A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration, and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who ...

s such as Bluehole's '' PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'' and

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

' '' Fortnite Battle Royale'', the resurgence of ''Pokémon Go'', ongoing governmental review of

loot box In video game terminology, a loot box (also called a loot crate or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or Loot (video gaming), ''loot'', ranging from simpl ...

es in light of national gambling restrictions,

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

agreeing to allow cross-platform play between PlayStation 4 and other console users, and the entry of ''Fortnite''-related

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

s into popular culture. With ''Fortnite''s success, Epic was able to establish the

Epic Games Store The Epic Games Store is a video game digital distribution service and storefront operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as a software client, for Microsoft Windows and macOS, and online storefront. Android and iOS versions of t ...

for personal computers as a strong competitor to the dominant but criticized position held by

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

digital storefront by significantly increasing the revenue split it gave to developers. Additionally, with a number of major sudden studio closures, including

Telltale Games Telltale Incorporated (trade name: Telltale Games) was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in July 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following ...

, there was an increasing call for video game developers to unionize. A nearly year-long freeze on video game approvals by the Chinese government had a major impact on publishers

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 ...

and

NetEase NetEase, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet technology company founded by Ding Lei in June 1997. It provides online services with content, community, communications, and commerce. The company develops and operates online PC and mobile games, adverti ...

, and was anticipated to impact future revenues in the industry.

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed games

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 ...

is an aggregator of video game journalism reviews. It generally considers expansions and re-releases as separate entities.

Financial performance

According to industry analysis firm NewZoo, the video game industry was worth by revenues in 2018, a 10.9% growth over 2017. Of this, 47% of the revenues were generated from

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 ...

, with consoles taking 28% and personal computers taking the remaining 25%. The top five largest video game markets of 2018 were China (), the United States (), Japan (), South Korea (), and Germany (). According to the NPD Group, total revenue from the video game industry, including hardware, software, and accessories, in the United States grew by 17% to , nearly matching revenues for the American film industry for 2018. Of that, were from software sales, digital content, and subscriptions. Hardware sales, at , were up 15% from 2017, as despite the fact that there was no new hardware releases, several system-exclusive titles helped to drive hardware sales. Licensed merchandise based on video game franchises generated $20.68 billion in 2018 retail sales, a rise of 6.1% compared to 2017.

Highest-grossing games

The following were 2018's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide 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 ...

s, free-to-play 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

, including the top five titles. The video game franchise that has generated the highest licensed merchandise sales is ''

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 ...

''. Other video game franchises with significant licensed merchandise sales include ''

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 ...

'', ''

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Roblox Roblox (, ) is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation that allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users. It was created by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 200 ...

'', '' Halo'', '' Fortnite'' and ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

''.

Best-selling games by region

The following were 2018's top ten best-selling video games by region, in terms of software units sold (excluding microtransactions and free-to-play titles) on PC and console platforms, for the United States, Japan, and Europe.

Major events

Notable deaths

* February 7 – Jill Messick, 50, producer of '' A Minecraft Movie''. * March 3 – David Ogden Stiers, 75, voice actor best known for the voice of Doctor Jumba Jookiba in the '' Lilo & Stitch'' franchise. * May 24 – TotalBiscuit, 33, English

video gaming Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

commentator and game critic on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. * June 18 –

Big Van Vader Leon Allen White (May 14, 1955 – June 18, 2018), better known by his ring names Big Van Vader or simply Vader, was an American professional wrestler and professional American football, football player. During his career, he performed for New J ...

, 63, pro wrestler (cover star of '' WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling'' and '' WWF In Your House''). * July 4 – Ronnie Edwards, 25, content creator MatPat's ''The Game Theorists.'' * August 23 – McSkillet, 18, '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' youtuber. * September 6 –

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

, 82, voice actor known for the voice of Avery Carrington in '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City''. * November 12 –

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

, 95, comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. Numerous of his characters have appeared in

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

. * November 26 – Stephen Hillenburg, 57, animator and creator of ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' which had numerous video games.

Hardware releases

Game releases

Series with new entries

Series with new installments in 2018 include '' Anno'', ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is a historical fiction, historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil (game engine), Anvil and its m ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Bloons Tower Defense'', ''

Bayonetta is a science fantasy action-adventure video game franchise created by Hideki Kamiya. It is developed by PlatinumGames, owned by Sega, and, since the release of Bayonetta 2 in 2014, published by Nintendo. The franchise was introduced in 2009 w ...

'', '' Bit.Trip'', '' BlazBlue'', ''

Bomberman is a video game Media franchise, franchise created by Shinichi Nakamoto and Shigeki Fujiwara, originally developed by Hudson Soft and currently owned by Konami. The Bomberman (1983 video game), original game, also known as ''Bakudan Otoko'' (� ...

'', ''

'', '' Darksiders'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the List of Don ...

'', ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

'', ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'', '' Earth Defense Force'', '' Fallout'', '' Far Cry'', '' Forza'', ''

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Just Cause'', '' Kirby'', '' Life Is Strange'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Mario Tennis'', ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'' (known as in Japan) is a video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the Mega Man (character), protagonist of the same name. The Mega Man (1987 video game), original game was released for the Nintendo Enter ...

'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Ni no Kuni'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Pillars of Eternity'', ''

'', ''

Red Dead ''Red Dead'' is a series of Western-themed action-adventure games published by Rockstar Games. The first entry in the series, '' Red Dead Revolver'', was released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in May 2004. Originally developed by Capcom, ''Red ...

'', '' Sakura Wars'', ''

Science Adventure Science Adventure, commonly shortened to SciADV, is a video game series and Multimedia franchise consisting of interconnected science fiction stories created by Mages, initially in collaboration with Nitroplus. The main entries mostly take the ...

'', '' Shantae'', ''

Soulcalibur is a fighting game franchise developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. There are a total of seven main installments and various media spin-offs, including music albums and a series of manga books in the ...

'', ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

'', ''

Spyro ''Spyro'' is a Platformer, platform game series originally created by Insomniac Games as an exclusive for Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony's PlayStation (console), PlayStation console. The series features the adventures of the main protagon ...

'', '' State of Decay'', '' Super Smash Bros.'', ''

The Bard's Tale ''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was ...

'', '' The Crew'', '' The Walking Dead'', ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise i ...

'', '' Tropico'', ''

Valkyria Chronicles ''Valkyria Chronicles'' is a series of military-themed tactical role-playing video games created by Ryutaro Nonaka and Shuntaro Tanaka, and developed by Sega. The series began with '' Valkyria Chronicles'', which was released for the PlayStatio ...

'', '' WarioWare'', '' Warhammer'', '' Wolfenstein'', and ''

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

''. In addition, 2018 saw the introduction of several new properties, including, '' Among Us'', '' Astro Bot Rescue Mission'', '' A Way Out'', ''

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning ''Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning'', retrospectively known as ''Baldi's Basics Classic'', is a 2018 horror game developed and published by Micah McGonigal. Disguised as an educational game, it is set in a schoolhouse where the player mu ...

'', '' Celeste'', ''

'', '' Deltarune'', '' Detroit: Become Human'', '' Firewall'', '' Frostpunk'', '' InnerSpace'', '' Just Shapes & Beats'', '' Marvel's Spider-Man'', ''

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

'', '' Octopath Traveler'', '' Overload'', '' Paladins: Champions of the Realm'', '' Past Cure'', '' The Persistence'', ''

Rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH) ...

'', '' Sea of Thieves'', '' Subnautica'', and ''

Vampyr ''Vampyr'' () is a 1932 Gothic horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. It was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 collection of supernatural stories '' In a Glass Darkly''. The ...

''.

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

References

Notes

* The release date is 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 ...

2018, which began on April 1, 2018, and ended on March 31, 2019.

Footnotes

{{History of video games Video games by year

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed games

Financial performance

Highest-grossing games

Best-selling games by region

Major events

Notable deaths

Hardware releases

Game releases

Series with new entries

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

See also

References

Notes

Footnotes