Numerous video games were released in 2018. Best-selling games included '' Call of Duty: Black Ops 4'', ''

Marvel's Spider-Man Marvel's Spider-Man may refer to: * Spider-Man, a fictional Marvel Comics superhero * ''Spider-Man'' (2017 TV series), an animated series produced by Marvel Animation * ''Spider-Man'' (video game series), a series of action-adventure video games ...

'', ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...

'', ''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...

'', ''

Far Cry 5 ''Far Cry 5'' is a 2018 first-person shooter, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the successor to 2014's ''Far Cry 4'', and the fifth main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series. Set in Hope County ...

'', ''

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in both monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been p ...

'', '' Monster Hunter: World'', and ''

Dragon Ball FighterZ ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'' (pronounced "fighters") is a 2.5D fighting game, developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise, it was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Micr ...

''. Games highly regarded by video game critics released in 2018 included ''Red Dead Redemption 2'', ''God of War'', ''

'', ''

Forza Horizon 4 ''Forza Horizon 4'' is a 2018 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on 2 October 2018 for Windows and Xbox One after being announced at Xbox's E3 2018 conference. An enhanced version ...

'', ''Monster Hunter: World'', ''

Dead Cells ''Dead Cells'' is a 2018 roguelike-Metroidvania game developed and published by Motion Twin. The game was released for Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on August 7, 2018. A mobile port for iOS was released o ...

'', ''

Return of the Obra Dinn ''Return of the Obra Dinn'' is an adventure and puzzle video game created by American video game designer Lucas Pope, and published by Japanese studio 3909. It was his second commercial game, following 2013's ''Papers, Please'', and was release ...

'', and ''

Celeste Celeste may refer to: Geography * Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada * Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas ** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celeste, ...

''. The year's highest-grossing games included ''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to- ...

'', ''

Honor of Kings ''Honor of Kings'' (, unofficially translated as "King of Glory," or alternatively transliterated as Wangzhe Rongyao) is a multiplayer online battle arena developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Tencent Games for the iOS and Android mo ...

Arena of Valor ''Arena of Valor'' (), formerly ''Strike of Kings'', is an international adaptation of ''Honor of Kings'' (), a multiplayer online battle arena developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Level Infinite for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch ...

'', ''

Dungeon Fighter Online ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' (''DFO''), known in South Korea as ''Dungeon & Fighter''. (''DNF''), is a multiplayer beat 'em up action role-playing game, developed and published for personal computers by Neople, a South Korean subsidiary of Nexon, ...

'', ''

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 custom map for ''Warcraft III'', ...

'', and ''

Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...

''. Among major trends in 2018 included the explosive growth of

battle royale game A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who st ...

s such as Bluehole's ''

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds ''PUBG: Battlegrounds'' (previously known as ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'') is a battle royale game developed by PUBG Studios and published by Krafton. The game, which was inspired by the Japanese film '' Battle Royale'' (2000), is based ...

'' and

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, ...

' ''

Fortnite Battle Royale ''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a free-to-play battle royale video game developed and published by Epic Games. It is a companion game to '' Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival game with construction elements. It was initially ...

'', the resurgence of ''Pokémon Go'', ongoing governmental review of loot boxes in light of national gambling restrictions,

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

agreeing to allow

cross-platform play In video games with online gaming functionality, also called cross-compatible play, cross-platform play, crossplay, or cross-play describes the ability of players using different video game hardware to play with each other simultaneously. It is c ...

between PlayStation 4 and other console users, and the entry of ''Fortnite''-related

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

s into popular culture. With ''Fortnite''s success, Epic was able to establish the

Epic Games Store The Epic Games Store is a digital video game storefront for Microsoft Windows and macOS, operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as both a website and a standalone launcher, of which the latter is required to download and play gam ...

for personal computers as a strong competitor to the dominant but criticized position held by

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...

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 trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...

. A nearly year-long freeze on video game approvals by the Chinese government had a major impact on publishers

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 wo ...

and

NetEase NetEase, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet technology company providing online services centered on content, community, communications, and commerce. The company was founded in 1997 by Ding Lei. NetEase develops and operates online PC and mobile gam ...

, and is expected to impact future revenues in the industry.

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed games

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

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

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 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 h ...

, 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 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 ...

, 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,

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 microtransa ...

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, 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). Six of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by

, including the top five titles. The video game franchise that has generated the highest licensed merchandise sales is ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of what each of thos ...

''. Other video game franchises with significant licensed merchandise sales include ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers m ...

'', ''

Mario is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

'', ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game 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 War, futuristic ...

'', ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games fe ...

'', ''

Roblox ''Roblox'' () is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation that allows users to program games and play games created by other users. Created by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004 and released i ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

'' and ''

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 b ...

''.

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.

Major events

Hardware releases

Game releases

Series with new entries

Series with new installments in 2018 include ''

Anno Anno may refer to: People *Anno of Saint Gall (died 954), Anti-Abbot of St. Gall *Anno II (Archbishop of Cologne) ( 1010–1075), Archbishop of Cologne from 1056 to 1075 * Anno (surname) * Anno Birkin (1980–2001), English musician *Hideaki 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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Bloons Tower Defense ''Bloons Tower Defense'' (also known as ''Bloons TD'' or ''BTD'') is a series of tower defense games under the '' Bloons'' series created and produced by Ninja Kiwi. The game was initially developed as a browser game, built upon the (now unusab ...

'', ''

Bayonetta is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya and developed by PlatinumGames. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with '' Bayonetta''. Two sequels were released, '' Bayonetta 2'' (2014) and '' Bayonetta 3'' (2022), as well a ...

'', '' Bit.Trip'', ''

BlazBlue ''BlazBlue'' is a fighting video game series developed and published in Japan by Arc System Works, and later localized in North America by Aksys Games and in Europe by Zen United. An anime adaptation aired in Autumn 2013. The series has sold 1. ...

'', ''

Bomberman is a video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft and currently owned by Konami. The original game, also known as ''Bakudan Otoko'' (''爆弾男''), was released in Japan in July 1983 and has since spawned multiple sequels and sp ...

'', ''

'', '' Darksiders'', ''

Digimon , short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise encompassing virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures, who inhabit a ...

'', ''

Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and his clan of other Ape, apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of plat ...

'', ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...

'', ''

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 o ...

'', ''

Earth Defense Force ''Earth Defense Force'', known in Japan as , is a series of third-person shooter video games. The series is published by the Japanese company D3 Publisher as part of the ''Simple'' series. Story In 2013, radio waves from deep space are picked up ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequen ...

'', ''

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 hand ...

'', ''

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 b ...

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

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, ...

'', ''

Mario Party is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called " CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. The games are currentl ...

'', ''

Mario Tennis ''Mario Tennis'' is a 2000 sports video game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Following '' Mario's Tennis'', it is the second game in the ''Mario Tennis'' series. The game is known for bein ...

'', ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man (character), Mega Man". Mega Man (video game), The original game w ...

'', ''

Monster Hunter is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games that started with the game '' Monster Hunter'' for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of platforms ...

'', '' Ni no Kuni'', ''

Persona A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatr ...

'', ''

Pillars of Eternity ''Pillars of Eternity'' is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on March 26, 2015. The game is a spiritual successor to the ' ...

'', ''

Red Dead ''Red Dead'' is a series of Western-themed action-adventure games published by Rockstar Games. The first entry in the series, ''Red Dead Revolver'', was released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in May 2004. Originally developed by Capcom, ''Red Dea ...

'', ''

Sakura Wars is a Japanese steampunk media franchise created by Oji Hiroi and owned by Sega. It is focused around a series of cross-genre video games. The first game in the series was released in 1996, with five sequels and numerous spin-off titles being ...

'', ''

Science Adventure ''Science Adventure'' is a multimedia series consisting of interconnected science fiction stories, created mainly by Mages, Nitroplus, and Chiyomaru Studio. The main entries mostly take the form of visual novel video games, but side entries span ...

'', ''

Shantae ''Shantae'' is a series of platform games developed by WayForward. The eponymous heroine of the series, a half-genie, was created by Erin Bozon, while the games were created from this character by her husband Matt Bozon. The series consists of ...

'', ''

Soulcalibur is a weapon-based fighting video game franchise by Bandai Namco Entertainment. There are seven main installments of video games and various media spin-offs, including music albums and a series of manga books. The first game in the series, '' ...

'', ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Si ...

'', ''

Spyro ''Spyro'' is a series of platform games which features the main protagonist Spyro, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998 with the PlayStation game '' Spyro the Dragon'', there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. Origin ...

'', ''

State of Decay ''State of Decay'' is a series of third-person survival horror video games. The series was created by Undead Labs and published by Xbox Game Studios. To date, there are two installments in the franchise, and an upcoming third game. Common game ...

'', '' Super Smash Bros.'', ''

The Bard's Tale ''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was '' ...

'', '' The Crew'', '' The Walking Dead'', ''

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, ...

'', '' Tropico'', ''

Valkyria Chronicles ''Valkyria Chronicles'' is a series of military-themed tactical role-playing video games created by Ryutaro Nonaka and Shuntaro Tanaka, and developed by Sega. The series began with '' Valkyria Chronicles'', which was released for the PlayStat ...

'', ''

Warhammer Warhammer may refer to: * War hammer, a medieval weapon Warhammer media franchise *''Warhammer'', a series of games and related media: ** ''Warhammer'' (game), a table-top fantasy miniature wargame, and origin of the franchise ** ''Warhammer Fan ...

'', and ''

Wolfenstein ''Wolfenstein'' is a series of World War II video games originally developed by Muse Software. The majority of the games follow William "B.J." Blazkowicz, an American Army captain and his fight against the Axis powers. Earlier titles are cente ...

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

References

Notes

* The release date is for Japan only. * A western or worldwide release of previously regional exclusive games. * These games were targeted to be released in

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2018, which began on April 1, 2018, and ended on March 31, 2019.

Footnotes

{{History of video games Video games by year

Video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

Technology timelines by year

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed games

Financial performance

Highest-grossing games

Best-selling games by region

Major events

Hardware releases

Game releases

Series with new entries

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

See also

References

Notes

Footnotes