2018 in video games

Numerous video games were released in 2018. Best-selling games included Madden NFL 19, NBA 2K19, NBA Live 19, WWE 2K19, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Marvel's Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Far Cry 5, God of War, Monster Hunter: World, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Games highly regarded by video game critics released in 2018 included Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Marvel's Spider-Man, Forza Horizon 4, Monster Hunter: World, Dead Cells, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Celeste. The year's highest-grossing games included Fortnite, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Dungeon Fighter Online, League of Legends, and Pokémon Go.

Among major trends in 2018 included the explosive growth of battle royale games such as Bluehole's PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Epic Games' Fortnite Battle Royale, the resurgence of Pokémon Go, ongoing governmental review of loot boxes in light of national gambling restrictions, Sony Interactive Entertainment agreeing to allow cross-platform play between PlayStation 4 and other console users, and the entry of Fortnite-related internet memes into popular culture. With Fortnite's success, Epic was able to establish the Epic Games Store for personal computers as a strong competitor to the dominant but criticized position held by Valve's Steam 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 nearly year-long freeze on video game approvals by the Chinese government had a major impact on publishers Tencent and NetEase, and was anticipated to impact future revenues in the industry.

Top-rated games

Major awards

Critically acclaimed games

Metacritic 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 $134.9 billion by revenues in 2018, a 10.9% growth over 2017. Of this, 47% of the revenues were generated from mobile gaming, with consoles taking 28% and personal computers taking the remaining 25%. The top five largest video game markets of 2018 were China ($34.4 billion), the United States ($31.5 billion), Japan ($17.7 billion), South Korea ($5.8 billion), and Germany ($5 billion).

According to the NPD Group, total revenue from the video game industry, including hardware, software, and accessories, in the United States grew by 17% to US$43.4 billion, nearly matching revenues for the American film industry for 2018. Of that, US$35.8 billion were from software sales, digital content, and subscriptions. Hardware sales, at US$7.5 billion, 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, microtransactions, free-to-play and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including mobile, PC and console platforms). Six of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by Tencent, including the top five titles.

The video game franchise that has generated the highest licensed merchandise sales is Pokémon. Other video game franchises with significant licensed merchandise sales include Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Roblox, Halo, Fortnite and Minecraft.

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

Notable deaths

• March 3 – David Ogden Stiers, 75, voice actor best known for the voice of Doctor Jumba Jookiba in the "Lilo & Stitch" franchise.
• May 24 – TotalBiscuit, 33, English video gaming commentator and game critic on YouTube.
• June 18 – Big Van Vader, 63, pro wrestler (cover star of WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling and WWF In Your House).
• July 4 – Ronnie Edwards, 25, content creator MatPat's The Game Theorists.
• August 23 – McSkillet, 18, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive youtuber.
• September 6 – Burt Reynolds, 82, voice actor known for the voice of Avery Carrington in "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City".
• November 12 – Stan Lee, 95, comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer for Marvel Comics. Numerous of his characters have appeared in video games.
• November 26 – Stephen Hillenburg, 57, animator and creator of SpongeBob SquarePants which had numerous video games.

Hardware releases

Game releases

Series with new entries

Series with new installments in 2018 include Anno, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, Bloons Tower Defense, Bayonetta, Bit.Trip, BlazBlue, Bomberman, Call of Duty, Darksiders, Digimon, Donkey Kong, Dragon Ball, Dynasty Warriors, Earth Defense Force, Fallout, Far Cry, Forza, God of War, Hitman, Just Cause, Kirby, Life Is Strange, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Mega Man, Monster Hunter, Ni no Kuni, Persona, Pillars of Eternity, Pokémon, Red Dead, Sakura Wars, Science Adventure, Shantae, Soulcalibur, Spider-Man, Spyro, State of Decay, Super Smash Bros., The Bard's Tale, The Crew, The Walking Dead, Tomb Raider, Tropico, Valkyria Chronicles, WarioWare, Warhammer, Wolfenstein, and Yakuza.

In addition, 2018 saw the introduction of several new properties, including, Among Us, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, A Way Out, Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning, Celeste, Dead Cells, Deltarune, Detroit: Become Human, Firewall, Frostpunk, InnerSpace, Just Shapes & Beats, Marvel's Spider-Man, Moss, Octopath Traveler, Overload, Paladins: Champions of the Realm, Past Cure, The Persistence, Rust, Sea of Thieves, Subnautica, and Vampyr.

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

Video game-based film and television releases

See also

• 2018 in esports
• 2018 in games

References

Notes

• ^A The release date is for Japan only.
• ^B A western or worldwide release of previously regional exclusive games.
• ^C These games were targeted to be released in fiscal year 2018, which began on April 1, 2018, and ended on March 31, 2019.

Footnotes

1. List of video games considered the best
2. Video game
3. List of Telltale Games video games
4. Video game industry
5. List of banned video games by country
6. List of best-selling video games
7. Video game controversies
8. List of films based on video games
9. Marvel Games
10. Pokémon (video game series)
11. List of video games with LGBT characters
12. List of video games notable for negative reception
13. List of Games Workshop video games
14. Video games in the United States
15. 2010 in video games
16. Video games in China
17. Glossary of video game terms
18. Violence and video games
19. Artificial intelligence in video games
20. List of video games in development