Video games in 2016 were largely a continuation of releases for both PC and eighth generation consoles. This year came with the release of the first wave of commercially available virtual reality headsets, the release of the PlayStation 4 Pro, and two refreshed console releases (PS4 Slim and Xbox One S).
Contents
Software releases
The year 2016 saw releases of numerous video games, including new installments for several franchises, such as Ace Attorney, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Civilization, Cossacks, Dark Souls, Dead Rising, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Doom, 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, Persona, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, 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, it saw the release of new intellectual properties, including Overwatch, Quantum Break, Tom Clancy's The Division and The Last Guardian, and indie titles such as Abzû, Firewatch, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, No Man's Sky, Owlboy, Stardew Valley, and The Witness. Many awards went to games such as Overwatch, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Inside, Doom, Dark Souls III, The Last Guardian, Dishonored 2, and Titanfall 2.
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 gaming 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.
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. 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.
Hardware releases
The list of game-related hardware released in 2016 in North America.
Game releases
The list of games released in 2016 in North America.
Cancelled
Discontinued
Critically praised games according to Metacritic
Metacritic is an aggregator of video game journalism reviews. It generally considers expansions and re-releases as separate entities.
Highly scoring games released in 2016 with fewer than 10 reviews include Out of the Park Baseball 17, Stephen's Sausage Roll, Kentucky Route Zero - Act IV, Axiom Verge, and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.