2017 saw the release of numerous video games as well as other developments in the video game industry. The Nintendo Switch console was released in 2017, which sold more than 14 million units by the end of the year, exceeding the under-performing Wii U lifetime sales. This has helped to revitalize Nintendo, along with the "retro" Super NES Classic Edition console, the refreshed New Nintendo 2DS XL handheld and a strategy for mobile gaming. Microsoft also released the higher-powered Xbox One X targeted for 4K resolutions and virtual reality support.
Series with new installments in 2017 include Assassin's Creed, Bomberman, Bubsy, Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Danganronpa, Dawn of War, Destiny, Digimon, Dragon Quest, Doom, Dynasty Warriors, The Evil Within, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo, Gravity Rush, Halo Wars, Injustice, Kingdom Hearts, Kirby, The Legend of Zelda, Life Is Strange, Marvel vs. Capcom, Mass Effect, Metroid, Need for Speed, Nier, Persona, Planescape: Torment, Pokémon, Prey, Professor Layton, Resident Evil, Sniper Elite, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, Sonic the Hedgehog, Splatoon, Star Wars Battlefront, Super Mario, Tekken, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Uncharted, Wipeout, Wolfenstein, WWE 2K, Xenoblade, Yakuza and Yoshi.
In addition, 2017 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Arms, Cuphead, Doki Doki Literature Club!, ELEX, Fortnite, Hellblade, Hollow Knight, Horizon, Nioh, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Financial performance According to analyst firm Newzoo, the video game industry had in global revenues, a 10% growth from 2016. This growth was primarily driven by mobile gaming, as 43% () of those revenues came from this sector, a growth of 23.3% from 2016. Of the remaining, 29% () came from consoles hardware and games, and 28% () from personal computer games. SuperData similarly estimated the global video game market in 2017 was around , driven heavily by free-to-play mobile and computer games. Analyst firm Sensor Tower, which tracks revenue within the mobile industry, reported that of the in total revenues in 2017, came from mobile games.
Within the United States, the video industry grew from 2016 by 18% to a total revenue of , with from hardware sales (gaining 19% from 2016) and (18%) from software and microtransactions, according to NPD Group and the Entertainment Software Association. Further, was spent on mobile gaming in 2017 in the United States, according to Sensor Tower.
Highest-grossing games The following were 2017's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide revenue (including physical sales, 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, including the top three titles.
Rank Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre Platform(s) Business model 1 Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor $2,400,000,000 Tencent MOBA Mobile Free-to-play 2 League of Legends $2,100,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBA PC Free-to-play 3 Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) $1,900,000,000 Nexon / Tencent Beat 'em up PC Free-to-play 4 Monster Strike $1,641,000,000 Mixi Physics Mobile 5 Crossfire $1,605,000,000 Smilegate / Tencent FPS PC, Mobile Free-to-play 6 Fantasy Westward Journey $1,500,000,000 NetEase MMORPG Mobile Free-to-play 7 Clash Royale $1,200,000,000 Supercell Strategy 8 Clash of Clans $1,200,000,000 Strategy 9 Call of Duty: WWII $1,000,000,000 Activision FPS Console, PC Buy-to-play 10 Fate/Grand Order (FGO) $982,000,000 Aniplex RPG Mobile Free-to-play
Highest-grossing free-to-play games The following were the top ten highest-grossing free-to-play games in 2017. Six of the top ten titles were published or owned by Tencent, including the top three titles.
Rank Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre Platform(s) 1 Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor $2,400,000,000 Tencent MOBA Mobile 2 League of Legends $2,100,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBA PC 3 Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) $1,900,000,000 Nexon / Tencent Beat 'em up PC 4 Monster Strike $1,641,000,000 Mixi Physics Mobile 5 Crossfire $1,605,000,000 Smilegate / Tencent FPS PC, Mobile 6 Fantasy Westward Journey $1,500,000,000 NetEase MMORPG Mobile 7 Clash Royale $1,200,000,000 Supercell Strategy 8 Clash of Clans $1,200,000,000 Strategy 9 Fate/Grand Order (FGO) $982,000,000 Aniplex RPG 10 Lineage 2: Revolution $980,000,000 Netmarble Games MMORPG
Sensor Tower reported that the highest-grossing mobile games were the free-to-play titles Monster Strike, Honor of Kings, Fate/Grand Order, Clash Royale, and Candy Crush Saga. The top-grossing mobile games in the United States were Candy Crush Saga, Game of War: Fire Age, Clash of Clans, Mobile Strike, and Clash Royale.
Best-selling premium games The following were the top ten best-selling premium games (including buy-to-play titles) in 2017. Four of the top ten titles were published by Nintendo.
RankGameUnits soldRevenueGenrePublisher(s)Platform(s)1PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)30,000,000$900,000,000Battle royalePUBG Corporation 2Call of Duty: WWII< 19,630,000$1,000,000,000FPSActivision 3Grand Theft Auto V / Online15,000,000$521,000,000Action-adventureRockstar Games 4Super Mario Odyssey9,070,000PlatformerNintendoNS5Star Wars: Battlefront II9,000,000ShooterElectronic Arts6Pokémon Sun / Moon / Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon8,530,000RPGNintendo / The Pokémon Company3DS7The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildAction-adventureNintendo8Mario Kart 8 / Deluxe7,470,000Kart racing9FIFA 17$409,000,000SportsEA Sports 10Overwatch$382,000,000ShooterBlizzard Entertainment WIN
Best-selling games by country The following were 2017's top ten best-selling video games by country, in terms of software units sold (excluding microtransactions and free-to-play titles) on PC and console platforms, for the United States, Japan, and United Kingdom.
Rank Japan United Kingdom United States 1 Monster Hunter XX FIFA 18 Call of Duty: WWII 2 Pokémon Sun / Moon Call of Duty: WWII NBA 2K18 3 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Grand Theft Auto V Destiny 2 4 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Assassin's Creed Origins Madden NFL 18 5 Super Mario Maker Star Wars Battlefront II The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 6 Biohazard 7: Resident Evil Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy Grand Theft Auto V 7 NieR: Automata Destiny 2 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands 8 Momotaro Dentetsu 2017: Tachiagare Nippon! Gran Turismo Sport Star Wars: Battlefront II 9 Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands Super Mario Odyssey 10 1-2-Switch Horizon: Zero Dawn Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Top-rated games Top-rated games in 2017 included The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Persona 5, Divinity: Original Sin II, and Horizon Zero Dawn. One of the most influential games of 2017 was PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which was released in early access for personal computers in March 2017 and by the end of the year had sold 30million units, breaking several concurrent player count records and established the battle royale genre. The highest-grossing game of the year was the mobile game Honor of Kings, known as Arena of Valor internationally. Considerable debate was held over the use of loot boxes in video games and whether they constituted gambling, coming to a head with the release of Star Wars Battlefront II.
Critically acclaimed games Metacritic is an aggregator of video game journalism reviews. It generally considers expansions and re-releases as separate entities.
+Releases scoring higher than 90/100 in 2017 Game Developer Publisher Release Date Platform Average Score out of 100The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildNintendo EPDNintendo March 3, 2017NS 97Super Mario OdysseyNintendo EPDNintendo October 27, 2017NS 97The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildNintendo EPDNintendoMarch 3, 2017WiiU96Divinity: Original Sin IILarian Studios September 14, 2017WIN93 Persona 5 P-Studio Atlus April 4, 2017 PS4 93What Remains of Edith FinchGiant SparrowAnnapurna Interactive July 19, 2017XBO 92Undertale8-4August 15, 2017PS492Ōkami HDCapcom December 12, 2017WIN 92Mario Kart 8 DeluxeNintendo EPDNintendo April 28, 2017NS 92SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate EditionImage & Form December 28, 2017NS 91Shovel Knight: Treasure TroveYacht Club Games March 3, 2017NS 91Retro City Rampage DX Vblank Entertainment August 3, 2017NS 91BayonettaPlatinumGamesSega April 11, 2017WIN 90Opus MagnumZachtronics December 8, 2017WIN 90Pinball FX 3: Universal Classics PinballZen Studios September 26, 2017XBO 90Linelight My Dog Zorro January 30, 2017WIN 90
Major awards Category/Organization 35th Golden Joystick Awards The Game Awards 2017 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards 18th Game Developers Choice Awards 14th British Academy Games Awards Game of the Year The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild What Remains of Edith Finch Independent / Debut Indie Friday the 13th: The Game Cuphead Snipperclips Cuphead Gorogoa Debut Cuphead Mobile/Handheld MobilePokémon Sun and Moon Monument Valley 2 Fire Emblem Heroes Gorogoa Golf Clash Handheld Metroid: Samus Returns VR/ARResident Evil 7: Biohazard Lone Echo Superhot VR colspan="2" Innovation colspan="3" Gorogoa The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Artistic Achievement Animation Cuphead Cuphead Cuphead Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Art Direction Cuphead Audio Music The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Nier: Automata Cuphead The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Cuphead Sound Design Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Super Mario Odyssey Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Character or Performance Ashly Burch as Aloy Horizon Zero Dawn Melina Juergens as Senua Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice SenuaHellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Melina Juergens as SenuaHellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Game Design or Direction Game Design rowspan="2" The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Super Mario Odyssey Game Direction The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Narrative Horizon Zero Dawn What Remains of Edith Finch Horizon Zero Dawn What Remains of Edith Finch Night in the Woods Technical Achievement colspan="2" Horizon Zero Dawn colspan="2" Multiplayer/Online PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Divinity: Original Sin II Action Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds rowspan="2" colspan="3" Adventure The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Family Super Mario Odyssey Snipperclips Super Mario Odyssey Fighting Injustice 2 rowspan="5" colspan="3" Role-Playing Persona 5 Nier: Automata Sports/Racing Sports rowspan="2" Forza Motorsport 7 FIFA 18 Racing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Strategy/Simulation Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Social Impact Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice colspan="2" Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Special Award Lifetime Achievement Industry Icon Award Lifetime Achievement Lifetime Achievement Award BAFTA Special BAFTA Fellowship Sid Meier Carol Shaw Genyo Takeda Tim Schafer Nolan North Tim Schafer
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