2021 In Video Games
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In the
video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...
, 2021 saw the release of many new video games. The numerous delays in software and hardware releases due to the continuation of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
heavily impacted development schedules, leading to many games being delayed into this year or indefinitely. Additionally, computer and console hardware were impacted by the combined effects of
semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
shortage (partially from post-COVID-19 effects) and a rising growth of
bitcoin mining The bitcoin network is a peer-to-peer payment network that operates on a cryptographic protocol. Users send and receive bitcoins, the units of currency, by broadcasting digitally-signed messages to the network using bitcoin cryptocurrency ...
that strained the supply of critical components.


Top-rated games


Major awards


Critically acclaimed games

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 ...
is an aggregator of video game journalism reviews. It generally considers expansions and re-releases as separate entities.


Financial performance

According to market research firm Newzoo, the global video game market reached total revenues of , a 1.4% growth from 2020. Of this, 52% of the revenue was attributed to the mobile game market and the larger growth over the prior year, 28% to the console games market (including hardware and software), and 20% to the personal computer market.


Largest markets

According to market research firm Newzoo, the following countries were the largest video game markets in 2021.


Highest-grossing mobile games

The following titles are the top ten highest-grossing mobile games of 2021.


Highest-grossing games in China

The following titles were 2021's top six highest-grossing
video games in China The video game industry in mainland China currently is one of the major markets for the global industry, where more than half a billion people play video games. Revenues from China make up around 25% of nearly video game industry as of 2018, and ...
.


Best-selling premium games by region

The following titles were 2021's top ten best-selling premium games by region (excluding
microtransactions 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 ...
and
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 ...
titles) on 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, for Japan, the United States, and Europe.


Major events


Notable deaths

* February 3 –
Robert A. Altman Robert Alan Altman (February 23, 1947February 3, 2021) was an American lawyer and video game executive. He worked as a lawyer in Washington, D.C. and was involved in a scandal surrounding the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. In 1999, ...
, 73, co-founder and CEO of
ZeniMax Media ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland, and founded in 1999. The company owns publisher Bethesda Softworks with its development unit Bethesda Game Studios (developer of ''The Elder Scrolls,'' ...
. * March 11 – Gordon Hall, 51, co-founder of
Rockstar Leeds Rockstar Leeds Limited (formerly Möbius Entertainment Limited) is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Leeds. Ian J. Bowden, Dave Box, Gordon Hall, and Jason McGann founded the company as Möbius Entertainmen ...
. * May 28 –
Benoît Sokal Benoît Sokal (28 June 1954 – 28 May 2021) was a Belgian comic artist and video game developer, best known for his comics series ''Inspector Canardo'', and the ''Syberia'' adventure game franchise. Biography Benoît Sokal was born in Brussel ...
, 66, creator of the '' Syberia'' series. * June 4 – Ebbe Altberg, ca. 57, CEO of Linden Lab, creators of ''
Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
''. * ca. June 27 – "Near" aka "Byuu", ca. 38, developer of the higan emulator for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...
. * ca. August – David Lawson, 62, co-founder of
Imagine Software Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polished, ...
and Psygnosis * September 12 – Brandon Ashur, 36,
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 ...
YouTuber and
livestreamer An online streamer or live streamer is a person who broadcasts themselves online through a Livestreaming, live stream to an audience. History Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could upload videos ...
also known as Bashurverse. * September 16 –
Clive Sinclair Sir Clive Marles Sinclair (30 July 1940 – 16 September 2021) was an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known for being a pioneer in the computing industry, and also as the founder of several companies that developed consumer electronics ...
, 81, founder of Sinclair Research, the company behind several early personal computers like the
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...
* September 18 –
Mick McGinty Mick McGinty (December 7, 1952 - September 18, 2021) was an American artist who specialized in airbrush, digital, and fine art oil painting. He graduated from ArtCenter College of Design, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, in 197 ...
, 69, traditional artist for television, film, and video games, including artwork for ''
Street Fighter II is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...
'' and other games in the 1980s and 1990s. * September 30 –
Koichi Sugiyama was a Japanese composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was best known for composing the music for the '' Dragon Quest'' franchise, along with several other video games, anime, film, and television shows. Classically trained, Sugiyama was ...
, 90, composer of the ''
Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...
'' series among others. * October 16 –
Hiroshi Ono Hiroshi Ono can refer to: * Hiroshi Ono (photographer) (born 1971), Japanese photographer * Hiroshi Ono (scholar) (born 1934), Japanese scholar * Hiroshi Ono (weightlifter) (born 1950), Japanese Olympic weightlifter * Hiroshi Ono (artist) ( ...
, 64, graphic artist for
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
who did most of their pixel art for their early arcade games, and was otherwise known as "Mr Dotman". * December 6 –
Masayuki Uemura was a Japanese engineer, video game producer, and professor. He was known for his work as an employee of Nintendo from 1971 to 2004, most notably for serving as a key factor in the development of the Nintendo Entertainment System. A former ...
, 78, lead architect of the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. * December 14 –
Ian Hetherington Ian Hetherington (June 1952 – 14 December 2021) was a British businessman who co-founded computer games developer Psygnosis. Biography He was a co-founder of Psygnosis, a company that developed computer games. Along with Jonathan Ellis, Hether ...
, 69, co-founder of Imagine Software and Psygnosis, chairman of Evolution Studios and Realtime Worlds. * December 28 –
John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...
, 85, American football coach and commentator, and namesake of
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
' ''
Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...
'' series.


Hardware releases

The list of game-related hardware released in 2021.


Game releases


Series with new entries

Series with new installments include ''
Age of Empires ''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was ''Age of Empires'', released in 1997. Nine total games within the ser ...
'', ''
Alex Kidd is a platform video game series developed by Sega, and starring the titular Alex Kidd. Games The franchise includes seven titles. * ''Alex Kidd in Miracle World'' - 1986, Master System * '' Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars'' - 1986, Arcade, 1988, ...
'', ''
Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'', '' Angelique'', '' Aragami'', ''
A-Train is a series of business simulation video games developed and published by Japanese game developer Artdink in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985. The first release in the United States was ''Take the A-Train II'', published ...
'', ''
Baldur's Gate ''Baldur's Gate'' is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. The game has spawned two series, known as the ''Bhaalspawn Saga'' and the ''Dark Alliance'', both taking place mostly ...
'', '' Battlefield'', ''
Big Brain Academy ''Big Brain Academy'' is a series of puzzle video games developed and published by Nintendo. Similar to the Brain Age series, each game features a number of activities designed to test, measure, and improve the player's mental skills. The first tw ...
'', '' Blaster Master'', ''
Blue Reflection ''Blue Reflection'' is a role-playing video game developed by Gust. It was published by Koei Tecmo in March 2017 in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and was released in September 2017 in North America and Europe for the PlayStat ...
'', ''
Bus Simulator ''Bus Simulator'' is a vehicle-simulation video game series developed by Icebytes, Contendo Media, TML Studios and Stillalive Studios, and published by Astragon Entertainment. The franchise was introduced in 2007 by Astragon Entertainment. The ...
'', '' Bravely Default'', '' The Caligula Effect'', ''
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 ...
'', '' Chivalry: Medieval Warfare'', ''
The Dark Pictures Anthology ''The Dark Pictures Anthology'' is an anthology series of interactive drama and survival horror video games developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The anthology will consist of eight games, with each gam ...
'', ''
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. It follows teenage Tanjiro Kamado, who strives to become a demon slayer after his family was slaughtered and his younger sister, Nezuko Kamado, Nezuko, turned into a ...
'', ''
DC Super Hero Girls ''DC Super Hero Girls'' or ''DC Superhero Girls'' (in various countries) is an American superhero web series and franchise Produced by Warner Bros. Animation for Cartoon Network based on characters from DC Entertainment that launched in the thi ...
'', '' Diablo'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'', ''
Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...
'', ''
Drakengard ''Drakengard'', known in Japan as is a series of action role-playing video games created by Yoko Taro. The eponymous first game in the series was released in 2003 on the PlayStation 2, and has since been followed by a sequel, a prequel and se ...
'', ''
Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...
'', '' Everspace'', '' Evil Genius'', '' Far Cry'', ''
Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
'', '' Five Nights at Freddy's'', ''
Forza ''Forza'' ( , ; Italian for "force" and "strength") is a series of simulation racing games for Xbox consoles, Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android devices published by Xbox Game Studios. The series seeks to emulate the performance and handling ...
'', ''
Ghosts 'n Goblins ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', known in Japan as , is a run-and-gun platform video game series created by Tokuro Fujiwara and developed by Capcom. The first entry in the series was '' Ghosts 'n Goblins'', released in arcades on July 7, 1985. The seri ...
'', '' Guardians of the Galaxy'', '' Guilty Gear'', '' Halo'', ''
Hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
'', ''
Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...
'', ''
The House of the Dead ''The House of the Dead'' is a horror-themed light gun shooter video game franchise created by Sega in 1996. Originally released in arcades, it utilizes a light gun on the platform, but can be played with standard controllers on consoles and a ...
'', ''
The Idolmaster is a Japanese media franchise that began in 2005 with a raising simulation and rhythm video game series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The series primarily centers on the career of a producer who works with a group of p ...
'', ''
King's Bounty ''King's Bounty'' is a turn-based fantasy video game designed by Jon Van Caneghem and published by New World Computing in 1990. The game follows the player's character, a hero of King Maximus, appointed with the job of retrieving the Sceptre of ...
'', ''
Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
'', '' League of Legends'', ''
The Legend of Heroes ''The Legend of Heroes'', known in Japan as is a series of role-playing video games developed by Nihon Falcom. First starting as a part of the ''Dragon Slayer'' series in the late 1980s, the series evolved into its own decade-spanning, interconne ...
'', ''
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, ...
'', ''
Little Nightmares ''Little Nightmares'' is a puzzle-platform horror adventure game developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version was released in May 2018, followed ...
'', ''
Lone Echo ''Lone Echo'' is a 2017 virtual reality adventure game developed by Ready At Dawn, and published by Oculus Studios. Set aboard a space station orbiting Saturn, it allows players to move in zero-gravity by grabbing and pushing off of the environme ...
,'' ''
Mario Golf There have been numerous sports games in the ''Mario'' franchise. Although originally a branch of the Mario sports games, the ''Mario Kart'' series is not included in this list, as it has since become a stand-alone series in the Mario franchise. ...
'', '' Mario Party'', '' Megami Tensei'', ''
Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirate (Metroid), Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the powe ...
'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' No More Heroes'', ''
Oddworld ''Oddworld'' is a video game series and fictional universe, created by developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. The series has been released on various platforms such as PlayStation, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Game Boy, Wi ...
'', ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'', ''
Psychonauts ''Psychonauts'' is a 2005 platform video game developed by Double Fine Productions. The game was initially published by Majesco Entertainment and THQ for Microsoft Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2. In 2011, Double Fine acquired the rights for t ...
'', '' Ratchet & Clank'', '' Resident Evil'', '' Rune Factory'', ''
R-Type is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...
'', '' Samurai Warriors'', '' Sniper: Ghost Warrior'', ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'', '' Stronghold'', '' Story of Seasons'', ''
Subnautica ''Subnautica'' is an open-world action-adventure game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The game has the player as a non-essential systems maintenance chief who is the only survivor of a spaceship crash on the alien planet ...
'', ''
Super Mario (also known as and ) is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every m ...
'', '' Syberia'', ''
System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game is set aboard a space s ...
'', ''
Tales Tales may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Tales'' (album), a 1995 album by Marcus Miller * ''Tales'' (film), a 2014 Iranian film * ''Tales'' (TV series), an American television series * ''Tales'' (video game), a 2016 point-and-click adventure ...
'', '' Vampire: The Masquerade'', '' Wario'', '' Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', '' The World Ends with You'', '' Wonder Boy'', and '' Yakuza''.


January–March


April–June


July–September


October–December


Video game-based film and television releases


Discontinued games

* '' Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island'' ( 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)


See also

*
2021 in games This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 2021. For video games, see 2021 in video gaming. Games released or invented in 2021 Game awards given in 2021 Significant games ...


Notes


References

{{History of video games Video games by year