2016 in video games
Numerous video games were released in 2016. New hardware came out as well, albeit largely refreshed and updated versions of consoles in the PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 4 Slim, and Xbox One S. Commercially available virtual reality headsets were released in much greater numbers and at much lower price points than the enthusiast-only virtual reality headsets of earlier generations. Augmented reality also became mainstream with Pokémon Go. Top-rated games originally released in 2016 included Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Inside, Overwatch, Forza Horizon 3, Madden NFL 17, WWE 2K17, NBA 2K17, Dark Souls III, and Battlefield 1 and Doom 2016. The top five highest-grossing video games of 2016 were League of Legends, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Monster Strike, Clash of Clans, and Dungeon Fighter Online.
Series with new installments in 2016 include Ace Attorney, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Civilization, Cossacks, Dark Souls, Dead Rising, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Digimon, Doom, Driveclub, 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, Paper Mario, Persona, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, The Playroom, 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, 2016 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Abzû, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, The Last Guardian, No Man's Sky, Owlboy, Obduction, Overwatch, Quantum Break, Stardew Valley, Tom Clancy's The Division, and The Witness.
Legend
Hardware releases
The following is a list of game-related hardware released in 2016.This year saw the launch of many Virtual reality headsets, such as the Oculus Rift CV1, Microsoft HoloLens, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, and Google Daydream.
Microsoft released its first model revision of the Xbox One, the Xbox One S and Sony released its first and only two model revisions of the PlayStation 4, the PlayStation 4 Slim & PlayStation 4 Pro.
| Date | Console | |
| March 28 | Oculus Rift CV1 | |
| March 30 | Microsoft HoloLens | |
| April 5 | HTC Vive | |
| August 2 | Xbox One S | |
| September 15 | PlayStation 4 Slim | |
| October 13 | PlayStation VR | |
| November 10 | Google Daydream | |
| November 10 | PlayStation 4 Pro | |
| November 10 | NES Classic Edition/ | |
| November 11 | NES Classic Edition/ |
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 video games 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, professional video game sports, and streaming were still growing markets in the year. DFC Intelligence reported similar numbers for revenues in the various sectors, and noted that mobile gaming revenues overtook both console and personal computer revenues in 2016.Newzoo estimated that $70.4 billion of video game revenues were made by the top 25 publicly-trading companies, led by Tencent, Sony, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft and Apple, Inc.. The top ten companies brought in more than 54% of total revenues during 2016, up from 43% in 2015.
IHS Markit estimated that worldwide revenue related to console hardware, software, and services was $34.7 billion, down about 2.5% from 2015; hardware sales were down from $12.8 billion to $10.5 billion, while software and service revenues were up. Sony held about 57% of the market share during 2016, followed by Microsoft and Nintendo.
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. Digital purchases, which included full game purchases, downloadable content, game subscriptions, and mobile game microtransactions, made up 74% of this number, continuing a steady increase of digital sales over retail since 2010. 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.
Highest-grossing games
The following were 2016's top ten highest-grossing video games worldwide in terms of digital revenue across all platforms. Six of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by Tencent.| Rank | Game | Revenue | Publisher | Genre | Platform | |
| 1 | League of Legends | $1,700,000,000 | Riot Games / Tencent | MOBA | WIN | |
| 2 | Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor | Tencent | MOBA | MOBI | ||
| 3 | Monster Strike | $1,300,000,000 | Mixi | Physics | MOBI | |
| 4 | Clash of Clans | $1,200,000,000 | Supercell | Strategy | MOBI | |
| 5 | Dungeon Fighter Online | $1,100,000,000 | Nexon / Tencent | Brawler | WIN | |
| 6 | Clash Royale | $1,100,000,000 | Supercell | RTS | MOBI | |
| 6 | Crossfire | $1,100,000,000 | Smilegate / Tencent | FPS | WIN | |
| 8 | Puzzle & Dragons | GungHo Online Entertainment | Puzzle | MOBI | ||
| 9 | Pokémon Go | $950,000,000 | Niantic / Nintendo / The Pokémon Company | AR | MOBI | |
| 10 | Game of War: Fire Age | $910,000,000 | Machine Zone | Strategy | MOBI |
Top-rated games
Critically acclaimed titles
and GameRankings are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.| Game | Publisher | Release Date | Platform | MC score | GR score |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine | CD Projekt | May 31, 2016 | XOne | 94/100 | 94% |
| Persona 5 | Atlus | September 15, 2016 | PS4 | 93/100 | 93.3% |
| Inside | Playdead | June 29, 2016 | XOne | 93/100 | 92.81% |
| Uncharted 4: A Thief's End | Sony Interactive Entertainment | May 10, 2016 | PS4 | 93/100 | 92.71% |
| Odin Sphere Leifthrasir | Atlus | January 14, 2016 | PSV | 93/100 | 89.25% |
| Forza Horizon 3 | Microsoft Studios | September 27, 2016 | XOne | 91/100 | 92.14% |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine | CD Projekt | May 31, 2016 | WIN | 92/100 | 91.58% |
| Out of the Park Baseball 17 | Out of the Park Developments | March 22, 2016 | WIN | 92/100 | 91.25% |
| SteamWorld Heist | Image & Form | June 7, 2016 | PSV | 90/100 | 92% |
| Inside | Playdead | August 23, 2016 | PS4 | 91/100 | 91.38% |
| Overwatch | Blizzard Entertainment | May 24, 2016 | WIN | 91/100 | 91.26% |
| Stephen's Sausage Roll | Increpare Games | April 18, 2016 | WIN | 90/100 | 91.25% |
| Overwatch | Blizzard Entertainment | May 24, 2016 | XOne | 91/100 | 90.58% |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine | CD Projekt | May 31, 2016 | PS4 | 91/100 | 90% |
| Overwatch | Blizzard Entertainment | May 24, 2016 | PS4 | 90/100 | 90.87% |
| Dark Souls III | Bandai Namco Entertainment | March 24, 2016 | XOne | 87/100 | 90.4% |
| Owlboy | D-Pad Studio | November 1, 2016 | WIN | 88/100 | 90.39% |
| Tadpole Treble | BitFinity | May 6, 2016 | WIN | 90/100 | 90% |
| NBA 2K17 | 2K | September 20, 2016 | WIN | 90/100 | 90% |
| N++ | Metanet Software | August 25, 2016 | WIN | 90/100 | 89.75% |
| Kentucky Route Zero – Act IV | Cardboard Computer | July 19, 2016 | WIN | 90/100 | 88.17% |
| NBA 2K17 | 2K | September 20, 2016 | XOne | 90/100 | 87.5% |