In the video game industry, 2026 continues trends resulting from the large-scale layoffs from previous years, as well as impacts on hardware and consoles due to limitations on computer memory availability.
Top-rated games Critically acclaimed games The following table lists the top-rated games released in 2026 based on Metacritic, which generally considers expansions as separate entities. The original versions of these games were released in 2026.
+2026 releases scoring 90/100 or higher on Metacritic Title Developer(s) Publisher(s) Release Platform(s) Average score Big Walk House House Panic WIN, OSX, NS2, PS5 91 Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations id Software Bethesda Softworks WIN, PS5, XBX/S 91 Forza Horizon 6 Playground Games Xbox Game Studios WIN, XBX/S 90 Mina the Hollower Yacht Club Games WIN, NS, NS2, PS4, PS5, XBO, XBX/S 90 Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Nihon Falcom GungHo Online Entertainment WIN, NS, NS2, PS5 90
Major events
Month Day(s) Event January 13 Meta announced the closure of the studios Armature Studio, Sanzaru Games, and Twisted Pixel. In addition, they announced more than 1,000 jobs would be laid off in their Reality Labs business. 21 Ubisoft announced a major restructuring into five creative houses. February 10–12 The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosted the 2026 D.I.C.E. Summit and the 29th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. 19 Sony Interactive Entertainment shut down Bluepoint Games. 20 Microsoft Gaming's Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond left the company, with Asha Sharma replacing Spencer, and Matt Booty promoted to chief content officer. The division was later rebranded to simply Xbox. March 9–21 The Game Developers Conference, branded as "Festival of Gaming", was held in San Francisco, California. 24 Epic Games announced plans to lay off more than 1,000 employees in part due to reduced Fortnite engagement. May 21 Following Sony issuing a $765 million impairment loss for Bungie, the studio announced it would be ending live support for Destiny 2 in June 2026, though it would remain playable. Most of the Destiny team and some from Marathon were laid off the following month as Sony restructured the studio. June 5–8 Summer Game Fest 2026 was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. 16 The European Commission declined to take any direct action following the Stop Killing Games initiative related to discontinuation of online games, but recommends developing voluntary practices with publishers and consumer groups. July 1 Sony announced it would cease physical disc production for new PlayStation games in January 2028, and would shutter the PlayStation 3 and Vita digital storefronts by July 2027. 6 Following Asha Sharma's announcement of a major reset of the Xbox division at Microsoft in June 2026, including pulling back towards console exclusivity and improving the financial performance for both Xbox and Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft announced it was laying off 1,600 Xbox employees now and another 1,600 over the next year. Further, within Xbox Game Studios, Double Fine and Compulsion Games were reverted to independent studios, while Undead Labs and Ninja Theory were sold off, and Arkane Studios's fate was in negotiations. To comply with European right to repair laws, Nintendo announced the discontinuation of the original Switch console, and the staged released of a Switch 2 console with a user-replaceable battery for the European region. August 4 Electronic Arts closed its $55 billion leveraged buyout by a group of investors led by the Public Investment Fund. 26–30 Gamescom 2026 was held in Cologne, Germany. September 12–13 Blizzard Entertainment held BlizzCon 2026 at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. 17–20 The Tokyo Game Show was held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. Planned activity for the 21st was cancelled due to the anticipated arrival of Typhoon Dujuan. October 6 Paramount Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion, becoming Skydance Corporation. This included merging of Warner Bros. Games and its studios with Paramount Games Studio. December 10 The Game Awards 2026 is scheduled to be held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Notable deaths February 10 – Shutaro Iida (a.k.a. Curry the Kid), 52, one of the main programmers of various Castlevania titles and the creative director of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and its upcoming prequel — Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement. February 13 – , 75, Japanese businessman and engineer, recognized as major contributor to most of Sega's consoles. February 16 – Robert Duvall, 95, actor, best known for portraying Tom Hagen in The Godfather and its video game adaptation. March 17 – Yoran Heling (a.k.a. Yorhel), creator and maintainer of the Visual Novel Database. March 19 – Jock Blaney, 76, voice actor who voiced Wolf O'Donnell and Bill Grey in Star Fox 64. April 2 – Yoshihisa Kishimoto, 64, game developer and creator of the Kunio-kun and Double Dragon series. April 25 – Bill Wise, 61, voice actor who voiced Knuckles the Echidna in the English dub of Sonic the Hedgehog OVA. May 18 – Tom Kane, 64, voice actor with numerous roles in film, television, and video games including Yoda in several Star Wars titles. June 16 Daveigh Chase, 35, voice actress who voiced Kiwako Seto in the English dub of Let It Die and Lilo Pelekai in Lilo & Stitch and several tie-in games based on the movie, such as Disney's Lilo & Stitch (GBA) and Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise. Bobby Prince, 81, composer for several id Software games including Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem games. June 19 – Claude Guillemot, 69, co-founder of Ubisoft. July 22 – İpek Yavuz, 54, co-founder of Turkish indie developer and publisher TaleWorlds Entertainment. August 16 − Hayden Panettiere, 36, actress who portrayed Samantha "Sam" Giddings in Until Dawn and its remake. She was also the English voice of Kairi and Xion in some of the Kingdom Hearts games. August 25 − Tim Curry, 80, actor who portrayed Colonel in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and the titular role in the Gabriel Knight series, along with roles in Brütal Legend and Dragon Age: Origins. August 26 − Peter Cullen, 85, the voice of Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise and Eeyore in various Winnie the Pooh works, including video games.
Hardware releases
Date Console Manufacturer June 29 Steam Machine Valve Corporation September 18 Steam Frame
Games released in 2026
Cancelled games Title Platform(s) Genre(s) Developer(s) Publisher(s) Month cancelled Assassin's Creed Singularity WIN, iOS, DROID DCCG Ubisoft Halifax Ubisoft Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Action-adventure Ubisoft Montreal Project Aether colspan="2" Ubisoft Halifax Project Crest Extraction shooter Ubisoft Stockholm Project U / Project Pathfinder WIN TPS Ubisoft Annecy Alterra Social sim Ubisoft Montreal Untitled Dungeons & Dragons game WIN Action-adventure Giant Skull Wizards of the Coast Untitled Lord of the Rings MMORPG MMORPG Amazon Games Orange County Amazon Games Spellcasters Chronicles WIN MOBA, Action, Strategy Quantic Dream Ubusuna PS4 Shoot 'em up M2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin WIN, PS5, XBX/S Action RPG Black Forest Games THQ Nordic Armed Fantasia WIN, PS5, XBX/S RPG Wild Bunch Productions Strategy 505 Games Directorate Novitiate WIN Action RPG Nesting Games
Discontinued games Games highlighted in bold indicate that the full game will be shut down. Title Platform(s) Genre(s) Developer(s) Publisher(s) Shutdown date Startplay WIN GameMaker Startplay Anthem WIN, PS4, XBO Action RPG BioWare Electronic Arts Panzer Kliker WIN Idle Peruns Forge iOS, DROID Social sim Maxis, Firemonkeys Studios, Slingshot Electronic Arts Beat Saber PS4, PS5 Rhythm Beat Games Beat Games, Oculus Studios Boundary Warriors WIN DCCG NetEase Games Onmyoji:The Card Game NBA Live 19 PS4, XBO Sports EA Tiburon Electronic Arts Orake Classic WIN MMO PigLion Games Blade & Soul Heroes WIN, DROID, iOS NCSoft Super People WIN Battle royale Wonder Games Wonder People Project CARS 3 WIN, PS4, XBO Racing Slightly Mad Studios Bandai Namco Entertainment Supervive WIN Battle royale Theorycraft Games Football Club Manager 26 LIVE WIN, OSX, PS5, XBX/S, iOS, DROID Sports Halfspace Games Pandoland iOS, DROID Action RPG Game Freak, WonderPlanet WonderPlanet Highguard WIN, PS5, XBX/S Hero shooter Wildlight Entertainment Chronicles of the Celestial Way WIN Action RPG Tiandao Howlbreath MMORPG Howlbreath King Arthur: Legends Rise RPG Kabam Games NetMarble Lightphobe Shooter Allan Chew Dirt 3 WIN, OSX, PS3, XB360 Racing Codemasters Codemasters, Feral Interactive (OSX) Dirt 4 WIN, OSX, LIN, PS4, XBO Codemasters Occupy White Walls WIN Art Kultura PS4 FPS Embark Studios Real Racing 3 iOS, DROID Racing Firemonkeys Studios, EA Mobile Electronic Arts PUBG: Blindspot WIN Tactical shooter ARC Team PUBG Corporation WWE 2K24 WIN, PS4, PS5, XBO, XBX/S Sports Visual Concepts 2K WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros NS, PS4 Konami, Joymoa Zombie Army VR WIN, PS4, Quest FPS, Survival horror Rebellion, Xtended Realities Rebellion INVERSE WIN Horror MASSVR DuoQ FPS, Dating sim The Duo Crew USC Games Rift Investigations RPG fp32.ai FRENZIES Quest Shooter nDreams Genshin Impact PS4 Action RPG miHoYo HoYoverse King of Meat WIN, PS5, XBX/S Action Glowmade Amazon Games Fortnite: Ballistic WIN, OSX, NS, PS4, PS5, XBO, XBX/S, DROID FPS Epic Games Fortnite: Battle Stage Rhythm Harmonix Epic Games Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile iOS, DROID FPS Activision Granblue Fantasy: Versus WIN, PS4 RPG Arc System Works Cygames R2BeatWIN Rhythm, Racing Valofe Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt WIN, PS5 Battle royale Sharkmob Dragon Age: Inquisition PS3 Action RPG BioWare Electronic Arts Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare TPS PopCap Vancouver CounterSide DROID, iOS, WIN RPG StudiobSide Dragon Arena WIN MOBA EOAG Games Raid One: 1 vs 5 Online Boss Battle Warhammer 40,000: Warpforge DROID, iOS, WIN DCCG Everguild Wildgate (China) WIN Shooter Moonshot Games Netease Striden Sandbox 5 Fortress Yahaha Games Stormgate Frost Giant Studios Bobcos Phoave Faehnor Online MMO Wyrd Ark Tombstone MMO MMOPRG Well Bucket RedTigerSpread TPS XLGames Ayakashi Rise DROID, iOS RPG Clover Games Heaven Hells Lord of Heroes Push3 WIN Puzzle Torii Gate Forsaken Island Survival Stone Age Village Heroes MMO CUNX Warface: Clutch FPS Crytek Kiev, Blackwood Games Source Wars MMO YD Games Match Gem 99 Battle royale, Match-3 Minimum Studio Corp Ninja Party Beat 'em up Nekki Stagdraft Hack and slash SteakSoft Rec Room WIN, OSX, NS, PS4, PS5, XBO, XBX/S, DROID, iOS Sandbox Against Gravity Mage Noir – Infinity WIN DCCG Double Combo Games Pinball M PS4, XBO Pinball Zen Studios Pinball FX Blade & Soul Heroes WIN, DROID, iOS MMO NCSoft Spellcasters Chronicles (Early access) | WIN | MOBA, Action, Strategy | colspan="2" | Quantic Dream