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 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 also became mainstream with Pokémon Go. Top-rated games originally released in 2016 included Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Inside, Overwatch, Forza Horizon 3, Madden NFL 17, WWE 2K17, NBA 2K17, Dark Souls III, and Battlefield 1 and Doom 2016. The top five highest-grossing video games of 2016 were League of Legends, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Monster Strike, Clash Royale, and Dungeon Fighter Online.
Series with new installments in 2016 include Ace Attorney, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Civilization, Cossacks, Dark Souls, Dead Rising, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Digimon, Doom, Driveclub, Far Cry, FIFA, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Forza Horizon, Gears of War, Hearts of Iron, Hitman, Homefront, Homeworld, Kirby, Mafia, Mario Party, Master of Orion, Metroid, Mirror's Edge, Paper Mario, Persona, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, The Playroom, Pokémon, Ratchet & Clank, Shadow of the Beast, Shadow Warrior, Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Fox, Star Ocean, Street Fighter, Titanfall, Total War, Uncharted, Watch Dogs, XCOM, and Zero Escape.
In addition, 2016 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Abzû, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, The Last Guardian, No Man's Sky, Owlboy, Obduction, Overwatch, Quantum Break, Stardew Valley, Tom Clancy's The Division, and The Witness.
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, 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 games, and console games, retail and downloadable, were $26 and $6.6 billion, respectively. The firm also identified that virtual reality (VR), professional video game sports, and streaming 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 ($10.2B), Sony ($7.9B), Activision Blizzard ($6.6B), Microsoft ($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 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 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, NBA 2K17 and Tom Clancy's The Division.
Highest-grossing games The following were 2016's top ten highest-grossing video games worldwide in terms of digital revenue (including digital purchases, microtransactions, free-to-play and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including Mobile, PC and console platforms). Six of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by Tencent.
Rank Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre Platform 1 League of Legends $1,700,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBA PC 2 Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor Tencent MOBA Mobile 3 Monster Strike $1,300,000,000 MixiPhysics Mobile 4 Clash of Clans $1,200,000,000 Supercell Strategy Mobile 5 Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) $1,100,000,000 Nexon / Tencent Beat 'em up PC 6 Clash Royale $1,100,000,000 Supercell RTS Mobile Crossfire $1,100,000,000 Smilegate / Tencent FPS PC 8 Puzzle & Dragons GungHo Online Entertainment Puzzle Mobile 9 Pokémon Go $950,000,000 Niantic / Nintendo / The Pokémon Company AR Mobile 10 Game of War: Fire Age $910,000,000 Machine Zone Strategy Mobile
Top-rated games Critically acclaimed titles Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
+ 2016 games and expansions scoring at least 90/100 (MC) or 90% (GR) Game Publisher Release Date Platform MC score GR score The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine CD Projekt May 31, 2016 XBO 94/100 94% Persona 5 Atlus September 15, 2016 PS4 93/100 93.3% Inside Playdead June 29, 2016 XBO 93/100 92.81% Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Sony Interactive Entertainment May 10, 2016 PS4 93/100 92.71% Odin Sphere Leifthrasir Atlus January 14, 2016 PSV 93/100 89.25% Forza Horizon 3 Microsoft Studios September 27, 2016 XBO 91/100 92.14% The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine CD Projekt May 31, 2016 WIN 92/100 91.58% Out of the Park Baseball 17 Out of the Park Developments March 22, 2016 WIN 92/100 91.25% SteamWorld Heist Image & Form June 7, 2016 PSV 90/100 92% Inside Playdead August 23, 2016 PS4 91/100 91.38% Overwatch Blizzard Entertainment May 24, 2016 WIN 91/100 91.26% Stephen's Sausage Roll Increpare Games April 18, 2016 WIN 90/100 91.25% Overwatch Blizzard Entertainment May 24, 2016 XBO 91/100 90.58% The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine CD Projekt May 31, 2016 PS4 91/100 90% Overwatch Blizzard Entertainment May 24, 2016 PS4 90/100 90.87% Dark Souls III Bandai Namco Entertainment March 24, 2016 XBO 87/100 90.4% Owlboy D-Pad Studio November 1, 2016 WIN 88/100 90.39% Tadpole Treble BitFinity May 6, 2016 WIN 90/100 90% NBA 2K17 2K September 20, 2016 WIN 90/100 90% N++ Metanet Software August 25, 2016 WIN 90/100 89.75% Kentucky Route Zero – Act IV Cardboard Computer July 19, 2016 WIN 90/100 88.17% NBA 2K17 2K September 20, 2016 XBO 90/100 87.5%
Major awards Category/Organization 34th Golden Joystick Awards The Game Awards 2016 20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards 17th Game Developers Choice Awards 13th British Academy Games Awards Game of the Year Dark Souls III Overwatch Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Independent / Debut Firewatch Inside Firewatch Mobile/Handheld Mobile Pokémon Go Pokémon Go Pokémon Go Handheld Pokémon Sun and Moon VR/AR Game Rez Infinite Superhot VR Job Simulator Innovation Pokémon Go colspan="2" No Man's Sky That Dragon, Cancer Artistic Achievement Animation The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine Inside Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Inside Art Direction Inside Audio Music Fallout 4 Doom Doom Inside Virginia Sound Design Battlefield 1 The Last Guardian Character or Performance Doug Cockle as Geralt of RiviaThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine Nolan North as Nathan DrakeUncharted 4: A Thief's End TricoThe Last Guardian Cissy Jones as DelilahFirewatch Game Designor Direction Game Design rowspan="2" Overwatch Overwatch Overwatch Inside Game Direction Inside Narrative The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Firewatch Inside Technical Achievement colspan="2" Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Multiplayer/Online Overwatch Overwatch Action Doom Overwatch rowspan="2" colspan="2" Adventure Dishonored 2 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Family Pokémon Go Ratchet & Clank Overcooked Fighting Street Fighter V rowspan="5" colspan="2" Role-Playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine Dark Souls III Sports/Racing Sports rowspan="2" Forza Horizon 3 Steep Racing Forza Horizon 3 Strategy/Simulation Civilization VI Special Award Lifetime Achievement Industry Icon Award Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award Special Award Eiji Aonuma Hideo Kojima Todd Howard Tim Sweeney Brenda RomeroBrandon Beck and Marc Merrill (Riot Games)
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