The year 2015 saw releases of numerous video games as well as a follow-up to Nintendo's portable 3DS console, the

New Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It is the fourth system in the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld consoles, following the original Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, and Nintendo 2DS. The system was released in Japan on October 1 ...

. Top-rated games originally released in 2015 included '' Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain'', '' The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'', ''

Bloodborne is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. ''Bloodborne'' follows the player's character, a Hunter, through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian-era–inspired cit ...

'', ''

Undertale ''Undertale'' is a 2015 2D role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical ...

'', and ''

Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the Fallout (series), ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for P ...

''. Sales of video games in 2015 reached $61 billion, according to analysis firm SuperData, an 8% increase from 2014. Of this, the largest sector was in computer game sales and subscription services, accounting for $32 billion.

Mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

s revenues were at $25.1 billion, a 10% increase from 2014. Digital sales on consoles made up the remaining $4 billion. In the United States, the

Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based in ...

(ESA) and the

NPD Group The NPD Group, Inc. (NPD; formerly National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.) is an American market research company founded on September 28, 1966, and based in Port Washington, New York. In 2017, NPD ranked as the 8th largest mar ...

estimated total video game market revenues at $23.5 billion, a 5% increase from 2014. Of this, the total software market was $16.5 billion, with the NPD Group estimating retail sales subset at $13.1 billion. The ESA reported that there were 2,457 companies in the United States involved in developing or publishing video games that directly supported 65,678 workers (37,122 in developing, 28,556 in publishing) with about another 154,000 indirectly supporting the industry, such as through contracting or video game journalism. The total contribution to the US's

gross national product The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...

from the industry was $11.7 billion. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the total video game market was valued at nearly 4.2 billion, according to figures from Ukie and '' MCV''. The largest segments were in digital software (£1.2 billion) and mobile games (£664 million), while sales of consoles dropped to £689 million.

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed titles

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

(MC) and

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

(GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.

Financial performance

Highest-grossing games

The following were 2015's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide revenue (including physical sales, digital purchases,

subscriptions The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, an ...

microtransaction Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

and

pay-to-play Pay-to-play, sometimes pay-for-play or P2P, is a phrase used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities. The common denominator of all forms of pay-to-play is that one mus ...

) across all platforms (including

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

, PC and

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

platforms). Three of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

, including the top-grossing title ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...

''.

Best-selling games

Events

Hardware releases

The list of game-related hardware released in 2015 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Series with new entries

Series with new installments in 2015 include '' Anno'', ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is an open-world, action-adventure, and stealth game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice D ...

'', '' Batman: Arkham'', ''

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...

'', ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game Media franchise, franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold W ...

'', ''

Disgaea is a series of tactical role-playing video games created and developed by Nippon Ichi. The series debuted in Japan on January 30, 2003, with '' Disgaea: Hour of Darkness'', later re-released as ''Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness'' and ''Disgaea DS ...

'', ''

Dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Dust: a genera ...

'', ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

'', ''

Fatal Frame ''Fatal Frame'', titled in Japan and ''Project Zero'' in Europe and Australia, is a Japanese survival horror video game series created, published and developed by Koei Tecmo (originally Tecmo). Debuting in 2001 with the first entry in the seri ...

'', ''

Five Nights at Freddy's ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' (''FNaF'') is a media franchise created by Scott Cawthon. The first video game of the same name was released on August 8, 2014, and the resultant series has since gained worldwide popularity. The main series consi ...

Forza Motorsport ''Forza Motorsport'' is a 2005 simulation racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox gaming system. The word ''Forza'' is Italian for strength. The game is the first installment in the ...

'', ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in November 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Player ...

'', ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'', ''

Heroes of Might and Magic ''Heroes of Might and Magic'', known as ''Might & Magic Heroes'' since 2011, is a series of video games originally created and developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing. As part of the ''Might and Magic'' franchise, the series ...

'', ''

Hotline Miami ''Hotline Miami'' is a top-down shooter video game by Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, collectively known as Dennaton Games. The game was published by Devolver Digital and released on 23 October 2012 for Microsoft Windows. Set in 1989 Mia ...

'', '' Just Cause'', ''

King's Quest ''King's Quest'' is a graphic adventure game series, released between 1980 and 2016 and created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following th ...

'', ''

Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unit ...

'', '' Magicka'', ''

Mario Party is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called "CPU (gaming), CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with mi ...

'', ''

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a sub-series of the ''Mario'' and ''Donkey Kong'' series, based on puzzle video games, marking the return of Pauline and the rivalry between Mario and Donkey Kong. '' Mario vs. Donkey Kong'', released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance, was ...

'', ''

Mario & Luigi ''Mario & Luigi'' is a series of role-playing video games developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the latter's various video game handheld consoles. The series is a spin-off from Nintendo's trademark ''Super Mario'' series, and stars ...

'', ''

Metal Gear is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...

'', ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

'', ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

'', ''

Need for Speed ''Need for Speed'' (''NFS'') is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games, the developers of ''Burnout''. The series generally centers around illicit street racing and tasks players to com ...

'', ''

OlliOlli ''OlliOlli'' is a side-scrolling skateboarding video game developed and published by Roll7. It was released for PlayStation Vita on 21 January 2014 in North America, and on 22 January 2014 in Europe. The game received a port for Microsoft Windo ...

'', ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'', ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

'', ''

StarCraft ''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance am ...

'', '' Star Wars: Battlefront'', '' Tales'', ''

The Witcher ''The Witcher'' ( pl, Wiedźmin ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are bea ...

'', ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...

'', ''

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' (often shortened to ''Rainbow Six'') is a tactical first-person shooter video game franchise by Ubisoft, based on the novel ''Rainbow Six'' by American author Tom Clancy. Critically and commercially successful, the ...

'', ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'', released as ''Tony Hawk's Skateboarding'' in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe, is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released for the PlayStation (c ...

'', ''

Total War Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...

,'' ''

Toy Soldiers A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, American Indians, pirates, samurai, and other subjects that involve ...

'', ''

Xenoblade Chronicles is a series of action role-playing games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It is a part of the '' Xeno'' metaseries created by Tetsuya Takahashi, but was formed after Nintendo's acquisition of Monolith Soft in 2007. The se ...

'', ''

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

'' and ''

Yoshi Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in ''Super Mario World'' (1990) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Yoshi is the title character of the List of Y ...

''. In addition, 2015 saw the introduction of several new properties, including ''

'', ''

Dying Light ''Dying Light'' is a 2015 survival horror video game developed by Techland and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game's story follows an undercover agent named Kyle Crane who is sent to infiltrate a quarantine zone in a ...

'', '' Evolve'', ''

Life Is Strange ''Life Is Strange'' (abbreviated ''LIS'') is a series of primarily episodic graphic adventure games published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the eponymous first installment, ...

'', '' Ori'', ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. In June 2016, ...

'', ''

Splatoon is a third-person shooter video game franchise created by Hisashi Nogami, and developed and owned by Nintendo. Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth inhabited by anthropomorphic marine animals, the series centers around fictional cephalopods known a ...

'', ''

'', and ''

Until Dawn ''Until Dawn'' is a 2015 interactive drama horror game, horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Players assume control of eight young adults who have to survive on B ...

''.

Game releases

The list of games released in 2015 in

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

Cancelled video games

Cancelled

* ''

Borderlands Online ''Borderlands'' is an action role-playing first-person looter shooter video game franchise set in a space Western science fiction setting, created and produced by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games for multiple platforms. The series ...

'' ( Win) * ''

Broforce ''Broforce'' is a side-scrolling run-and-gun platform video game developed by Free Lives and published by Devolver Digital. The game has the player as one of several "bros", based on popular culture action movie icons (for example, John Rambo ...

'' (

PSVita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

) * ''

'' ( PS3, X360) * '' Furious 4'' ( Win, PS3, X360) * '' Galak-Z: The Dimensional'' (

) * ''

Gone Home ''Gone Home'' is a first-person exploration video game developed and published by The Fullbright Company. ''Gone Home'' was first released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux computers in August 2013, followed by console releases for the Play ...

'' (

WiiU The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's ...

) * ''

Human Element ''Human Element'' is a cancelled online multiplayer video game under development by Robotoki for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Development was halted when the studio was closed. Development ''Human Element'' is the first game ...

'' ( Win,

PS4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in E ...

, XBO) * '' Kaio: King of Pirates'' (

3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

) * ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...

'' ( PS3, X360) * ''

Mortal Kombat X ''Mortal Kombat X'' is a 2015 fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the tenth main installment in the ''Mortal Komba ...

'' ( PS3, X360) * ''

Project CARS ''Project CARS'' is a racing video game series developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The franchise was introduced in 2015 and received a sequel in 2017, followed by ''Project CARS 3'' in 2020. Games ' ...

'' (

) * ''

Scrolls A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...

'' (

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

) * ''

Shadow Realms ''Shadow Realms'' is a cancelled Action role-playing game, action role-playing video game previously under development by BioWare's Austin studio. The game was set to be published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, and was scheduled for r ...

'' ( Win) * ''

Silent Hills is a cancelled horror game developed by Kojima Productions that was to be published by Konami for the PlayStation 4. It was in development since 2012 until its cancellation in 2015. It was to be the ninth main installment in the ''Silent Hill' ...

'' (

) * ''

The Black Glove ''Face the Music'' is a 1954 British crime drama film directed by Terence Fisher, starring Alex Nicol, Eleanor Summerfield and Paul Carpenter. It was produced by Hammer Films and shot at Bray Studios outside London with sets designed by ...

'' (N/A)

On hold

* '' Hellraid'' (

, XBO, Win) * ''

Phantom Dust is a 2004 real-time strategy action video game developed and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. The game was released in Japan on September 23, 2004 and in North America on March 15, 2005, licensed for release in North Amer ...

'' (

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

)

Notes

References

{{History of video games 2015 in video gaming Video games by year

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed titles

Financial performance

Highest-grossing games

Best-selling games

Events

Hardware releases

Series with new entries

Game releases

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

Cancelled video games

Cancelled

On hold

See also

Notes

References