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, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Far Cry 5, God of War, Monster Hunter: World, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, 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, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Celeste. The year's highest-grossing games included Fortnite, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Dungeon Fighter Online, League of Legends, and Pokémon Go.
Among major trends in 2018 included the explosive growth of battle royale games such as Bluehole's PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Epic Games' Fortnite Battle Royale, the resurgence of Pokémon Go, ongoing governmental review of loot boxes in light of national gambling restrictions, Sony Interactive Entertainment agreeing to allow cross-platform play between PlayStation 4 and other console users, and the entry of Fortnite-related internet memes into popular culture. With Fortnites success, Epic was able to establish the Epic Games Store for personal computers as a strong competitor to the dominant but criticized position held by Valve's Steam digital storefront by significantly increasing the revenue split it gave to developers. Additionally, with a number of major sudden studio closures, including Telltale Games, 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 and NetEase, and was anticipated to impact future revenues in the industry.
Series with new installments in 2018 include Anno, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, Bloons Tower Defense, Bayonetta, Bit.Trip, BlazBlue, Bomberman, Call of Duty, Darksiders, Digimon, Donkey Kong, Dragon Ball, Dynasty Warriors, Earth Defense Force, Fallout, Far Cry, Forza, God of War, Hitman, Just Cause, Kirby, Life Is Strange, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Mega Man, Monster Hunter, Ni no Kuni, Persona, Pillars of Eternity, Pokémon, Red Dead, Sakura Wars, Science Adventure, Shantae, Soulcalibur, Spider-Man, Spyro, State of Decay, Super Smash Bros., The Bard's Tale, The Crew, The Walking Dead, Tomb Raider, Tropico, Valkyria Chronicles, WarioWare, Warhammer, Wolfenstein, and Yakuza.
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, Celeste, Dead Cells, Deltarune, Detroit: Become Human, Firewall, Frostpunk, InnerSpace, Just Shapes & Beats, Marvel's Spider-Man, Moss, Octopath Traveler, Overload, Paladins: Champions of the Realm, Past Cure, The Persistence, Rust, Sea of Thieves, Subnautica, and Vampyr.
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, 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, 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 five titles.
Rank Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre Business model 1 Fortnite $5,477,000,000 Epic Games Battle royale, Survival Free-to-play 2 Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor $2,510,000,000 Tencent MOBA Free-to-play 3 League of Legends $1,900,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBA Free-to-play 4 Dungeon Fighter Online $1,700,000,000 Nexon / Tencent Beat 'em up 5 Crossfire $1,453,000,000 Smilegate / Tencent FPS 6 Monster Strike $1,387,419,755 Mixi Physics 7 Pokémon Go $1,300,000,000 Niantic / Nintendo / The Pokémon Company AR Free-to-play 8 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) $1,224,800,000 Bluehole / Tencent Battle royale Buy-to-play / free-to-play 9 Fate/Grand Order $1,200,000,000 Aniplex RPG Free-to-play 10 Candy Crush Saga $1,100,000,000 King Puzzle
The video game franchise that has generated the highest licensed merchandise sales is Pokémon. Other video game franchises with significant licensed merchandise sales include Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Roblox, Halo, Fortnite and Minecraft.
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.
Rank Europe Japan United States 1 FIFA 19 Monster Hunter: World Red Dead Redemption 2 2 Red Dead Redemption 2 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 3 Spider-Man Pokémon: Let's Go NBA 2K19 4 Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Splatoon 2 Madden NFL 19 5 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 6 God of War Super Mario Party Spider-Man 7 Far Cry 5 Kirby Star Allies Far Cry 5 8 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition God of War 9 Super Mario Party Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Monster Hunter: World 10 Super Mario Odyssey Super Mario Odyssey Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Top-rated games
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 2018 Title Publisher(s) Release Platform(s) MC score Red Dead Redemption 2 Rockstar Games October 26, 2018 PS4, XBO 97 God of War Sony Interactive Entertainment April 20, 2018 PS4 94CelesteMaddy Makes GamesJanuary 26, 2018XBO94Undertale8-4September 18, 2018NS93 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo December 7, 2018 NS 93 Forza Horizon 4 Xbox Game Studios October 2, 2018 XBO 92 Divinity: Original Sin II - Definitive Edition Larian Studios August 31, 2018 PS4, XBO 92 CelesteMaddy Makes Games January 25, 2018 NS 92 Bayonetta 2 Nintendo February 16, 2018 NS 92 Inside Playdead June 28, 2018 NS 91 Sonic Mania Plus Sega July 17, 2018 NS 91 Dead Cells Motion Twin August 7, 2018 XBO 91 Shadow of the Colossus Sony Interactive Entertainment February 6, 2018 PS4 91CelesteMaddy Makes GamesJanuary 25, 2018PS491 Nier: Automata Become As Gods Edition Square Enix June 26, 2018 XBO 90BastionSupergiant GamesSeptember 13, 2018NS90 Monster Hunter: World Capcom January 26, 2018 PS4, XBO 90 Hollow Knight Team Cherry June 12, 2018 NS 90Into the BreachSubset GamesFebruary 27, 2018WIN90 Astro Bot Rescue Mission Sony Interactive Entertainment October 2, 2018 PS4 90Bayonetta + Bayonetta 2NintendoFebruary 16, 2018NS90
Major awards Category/Organization 36th Golden Joystick Awards The Game Awards 2018 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards 19th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards 15th British Academy Games Awards Game of the Year Fortnite: Battle Royale God of War Independent / Debut Indie Dead Cells Celeste Celeste Florence Yoku's Island Express Debut The Messenger Mobile/Portable PUBG Mobile Florence VR/AR The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR Astro Bot Rescue Mission Beat Saber Innovation colspan="3" Nintendo Labo Artistic Achievement Animation God of War Return of the Obra Dinn Marvel's Spider-Man Gris Return of the Obra Dinn Art Direction God of War Audio Music God of War Red Dead Redemption 2 God of War Celeste God of War Sound Design Red Dead Redemption 2 God of War God of War Character or Performance Bryan Dechart as ConnorDetroit: Become Human Roger Clark as Arthur MorganRed Dead Redemption 2 KratosGod of War Jeremy Davies as BaldurGod of War Game Design or Direction Game Design rowspan="2" God of War God of War Into the Breach Return of the Obra Dinn Game Direction God of War Narrative God of War Red Dead Redemption 2 God of War Return of the Obra Dinn God of War Technical Achievement colspan="2" Red Dead Redemption 2 Multiplayer/Online Competitive Fortnite Battle Royale Fortnite rowspan="2" A Way Out Cooperative Monster Hunter: World Action Dead Cells Celeste rowspan="2" colspan="2" Adventure God of War Family Overcooked 2 Unravel Two Nintendo Labo Fighting Dragon Ball FighterZ Super Smash Bros. Ultimate rowspan="5" colspan="2" Role-Playing Monster Hunter: World Sports/Racing Sports rowspan="2" Forza Horizon 4 Mario Tennis Aces Racing Forza Horizon 4 Strategy/Simulation Into the Breach Social Impact Celeste colspan="2" My Child Lebensborn Special Award Lifetime Achievement Industry Icon Award Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award BAFTA Special Award Hidetaka Miyazaki Greg Thomas Bonnie Ross Amy Hennig Epic Games
Major events