2021 in video games
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In the video game industry, 2021 saw the release of many new titles. The numerous delays in software and hardware releases due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted development schedules, leading to several games being delayed into 2022 or even postponed indefinitely. Additionally, computer and console hardware were impacted by the combined effects of a semiconductor shortage (partially from post-COVID-19 effects) and a rising growth of bitcoin mining that strained the supply of critical components.[1]
Financial performance
According to market research firm Newzoo, the global video game market reached total revenues of US$180.3 billion, 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.[2]
Largest markets
According to market research firm Newzoo, the following countries were the largest video game markets in 2021.[3]
| Rank | Country | Revenue | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $46,010,000,000 | 685,480,000 |
| 2 | United States | $40,540,000,000 | 191,120,000 |
| 3 | Japan | $22,090,000,000 | 75,620,000 |
| 4 | South Korea | $7,550,000,000 | 33,010,000 |
| 5 | Germany | $5,870,000,000 | 46,120,000 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | $5,310,000,000 | 37,660,000 |
| 7 | France | $4,130,000,000 | 38,080,000 |
| 8 | Canada | $3,690,000,000 | 20,980,000 |
| 9 | Italy | $3,290,000,000 | 36,550,000 |
| 10 | Spain | $2,330,000,000 | 29,730,000 |
Highest-grossing mobile games
The following titles are the top ten highest-grossing mobile games of 2021.[4][5]
| Rank | Game | Revenue | Publisher(s) | Genre(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PUBG Mobile / Game for Peace | $2,900,000,000 | Tencent / Krafton | Battle royale |
| 2 | Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor | $2,800,000,000 | Tencent | MOBA |
| 3 | Genshin Impact | $1,900,000,000 | miHoYo | Action RPG |
| 4 | Roblox Mobile | $1,400,000,000 | Roblox Corporation | GCS, MMO |
| 5 | Coin Master | $1,400,000,000 | Moon Active | Casual, Casino |
| 6 | Pokémon Go | $1,300,000,000 | Niantic | AR |
| 7 | Candy Crush Saga | $1,300,000,000 | King (Activision Blizzard) | Puzzle |
| 8 | Garena Free Fire | $1,200,000,000 | Garena | Battle royale |
| 9 | Uma Musume Pretty Derby | $990,000,000 | Cygames | Simulation, Sports |
| 10 | Three Kingdoms Tactics | $931,000,000 | Alibaba Group / Koei Tecmo | 4X |
Highest-grossing games in China
The following titles were 2021's top six highest-grossing video games in China.[6]
| Rank | Game | Revenue | Genre | Platform(s) | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honor of Kings | $2,600,000,000 | MOBA | Mobile | Tencent |
| 2 | PUBG Mobile / Peacekeeper Elite | $1,700,000,000 | Battle royale | ||
| 3 | League of Legends | $1,100,000,000 | MOBA | PC | |
| 4 | Dungeon Fighter Online | $876,000,000 | Beat 'em up | ||
| 5 | Crossfire | $795,000,000 | FPS | ||
| 6 | Fantasy Westward Journey | $713,000,000 | MMORPG | Mobile | NetEase |
Best-selling premium games by region
The following titles were 2021's top ten best-selling premium games by region (excluding microtransactions and free-to-play titles) on PC and console platforms, for Japan, the United States, and Europe.
Top-rated games
Critically acclaimed games
Metacritic is an aggregator of video game journalism reviews. It generally considers expansions and re-releases as separate entities.
Major awards
- Some award presentations combine these categories.
Major events
| Date | Event | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| January 4 | Nintendo purchased Canadian video game developer Next Level Games, with the finalizations of the deal being done by March 1. | [13] |
| January 13 | Lucasfilm revived the Lucasfilm Games brand and announced a new Star Wars game from Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, terminating the exclusive license held by Electronic Arts for the property. | [14] |
| January 15 | YoYo Games, the developers of the GameMaker software, were acquired by Opera to help establish an Opera Gaming division. | [15] |
| January 22 | Vicarious Visions was merged into Blizzard Entertainment with its staff of over 200 becoming employees of Blizzard. | [16] |
| January 25 | The Carlyle Group completed its acquisition of Jagex. | [17] |
| February 1 | Google shuttered its internal Stadia Games and Entertainment division, with plans to refocus the service as a publisher for third-party games. | [18] |
| February 2 | Embracer Group acquired Gearbox Software, Aspyr Media, and Easybrain. | [19][20][21] |
| February 9 | The Pokémon Company announced that the World Championships has been canceled due to concerns of COVID-19. | [22] |
| February 18 | Electronic Arts completed its estimated $1.2 billion acquisition of Codemasters. | [23] |
| February 19–20 | Blizzard Entertainment held its virtual BlizzCon event. | [24] |
| March 2 | Epic Games acquired Tonic Games Group, including developer Mediatonic. | [25] |
| March 9 | Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios completed its acquisition of ZeniMax Media and its subsidiary studios. | [26] |
| March 9 | tinyBuild offered its initial public offering on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. | [27] |
| March 10 | The Roblox Corporation held its direct public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. | [28] |
| March 16 | Take-Two Interactive acquired HB Studios, which became a part of 2K. | [29] |
| March 18 | Sony Interactive Entertainment and Endeavor jointly acquired the Evolution Championship Series. | [30] |
| March 18 | Super Nintendo World opens to the public in Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. | [31] |
| April 2 | Focus Home Interactive acquired Streum On Studio. | [32] |
| April 22 | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosted the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, held as an online livestreamed event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | [33] |
| April 25 | Colette, a short documentary film co-produced by Oculus and Respawn Entertainment for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), making it the first Oscar awarded to a video game-related project. | [34] |
| April 29 | Electronic Arts completed its estimated $2.1 billion acquisition of mobile game developer Glu Mobile. | [35][36] |
| May 3–24 | The trial for the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit was held. | [37][38] |
| June 12–15 | E3 2021 was held as an online event. | [39] |
| June 21 | The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise celebrated its 30th anniversary. | |
| June 29 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Housemarque, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. | [40] |
| July 1 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Nixxes Software, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. | [41] |
| July 15–18 | PAX Online was held after cancelling the planned in-person PAX East event from June. | [42] |
| July 19 | Tencent announced its acquisition of Sumo Group for $1.3 billion. | [43] |
| July 19–23 | The Game Developers Conference and Independent Games Festival was held as an online event. | [44][45] |
| July 20 | The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) initiated a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard following a two-year investigation asserting the company maintained a hostile workplace that discriminated and harassed female employees, leading to thousands of employees signing onto an open letter and performing a walkout, demanding management take appropriate reaction. | [46][47] |
| August 3 | Blizzard Entertainment President J. Allen Brack left the company in the wake of the DFEH lawsuit. | [48] |
| August 5 | Embracer Group acquired eight additional studios, including 3D Realms, Ghost Ship Games and Slipgate Ironworks. | [49] |
| August 5 | Focus Home Interactive acquired Dotemu. | [50] |
| August 6–8, 13–15 | Evolution Championship Series 2021 was held as an online event. | [51] |
| August 10 | Krafton completed its initial public offering on the Korea Exchange, with an initial valuation of around $19 billion. | [52] |
| August 19–21 | Quakecon 2021 was held as an online event. | [53] |
| August 25–27 | Gamescom 2021 was held as an online event. | [54] |
| August 30 | China announces a law that restricts people under the age of 18 to play video games only up to 3 hours a week. | [55][56] |
| September 8 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Firesprite, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. | [57] |
| September 9 | The Crash Bandicoot franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary. | |
| September 10 | In Epic Games v. Apple, Apple was given a permanent injunction preventing them from blocking apps that included links to third-party payment systems. | [58] |
| September 28 | Netflix acquired Night School Studio as its first game studio. | [59] |
| September 30 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Bluepoint Games, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. | [60] |
| September 30–October 3 | Tokyo Game Show 2021 was held as an online event. | [61] |
| October 7–17 | The International 2021, the tenth iteration of the annual Dota 2 global esports tournament, was held in Bucharest, Romania. It holds the record for the largest esports prize pool of all time at $40 million. | [62] |
| October 21 | NetEase acquired Grasshopper Manufacture from GungHo Online Entertainment. | [63] |
| October 25-26 | The Nintendo Switch Online service launches the Expansion Pack subscription, which allows subscribers of it to play emulated Nintendo 64 & Sega Genesis/Mega Drive titles and features exclusive DLC for Nintendo Switch games. | [64] |
| October 28 | Mark Zuckerberg rebrands Facebook as Meta Platforms. Zuckerberg announced that "The Metaverse" will be a hybrid of social media, fitness, gaming, and more. | [65][66][67] |
| October 29 | Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds Entertainment. | [68] |
| November 2 | Netflix launched its video game service via its mobile app for subscribers. | [69] |
| November 4 | Devolver Digital went public on the Alternative Investment Market and acquired Dodge Roll, Nerial and Firefly Studios. | [70][71] |
| November 15 | Take-Two Interactive acquired Roll7, which became a part of Private Division. | [72] |
| November 16 | G4, the gaming-focused TV network that shut down in 2014, was relaunched on various linear TV and streaming services. | [73] |
| November 23 | Epic Games acquired Harmonix. | [74] |
| December 9 | The Game Awards 2021 was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. | [75][12] |
| December 10 | Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Valkyrie Entertainment, which became a part of PlayStation Studios. | [76] |
| December 15 | Embracer Group acquired board game publisher Asmodee. | [77] |
| December 17 | Tencent acquired Turtle Rock Studios. | [78] |
| December 21 | Embracer Group acquired Perfect World Entertainment along with its publishing group and Cryptic Studios, as well as Dark Horse Media, the parent company of Dark Horse Comics and Dark Horse Entertainment. | [79][80] |
| December 27 | Riot Games agreed to settle its workplace gender discrimination lawsuit with two former employees for $100 million. | [81] |
Notable deaths
- January 29 – Walker Boone, 76, actor who played Mario in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.[82]
- February 3 – Robert A. Altman, 73, co-founder and CEO of ZeniMax Media.[83][84]
- March 11 – Gordon Hall, 51, co-founder of Rockstar Leeds.[85]
- April 4 – Ralph Schuckett, 73, co-composer on the video game Pokémon Puzzle League.[86]
- April 9 – DMX, 50, rapper who appeared in Street Hoops and Def Jam Vendetta.[87][88]
- May 28 – Benoît Sokal, 66, creator of the Syberia series.[89]
- June 4 – Ebbe Altberg, ca. 57, CEO of Linden Lab, creators of Second Life.[90]
- ca. June 27 – "Near" aka "Byuu", ca. 38,[91] developer of the higan emulator for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.[92][93]
- ca. August – David Lawson, 62, co-founder of Imagine Software and Psygnosis[94]
- August 29 – Ed Asner, 91, actor known for voicing Carl Fredrickson in Up.
- September 12 – Brandon Ashur, 36, Minecraft YouTuber and livestreamer also known as Bashurverse.[95][96][97]
- September 16 – Clive Sinclair, 81, founder of Sinclair Research, the company behind several early personal computers like the ZX Spectrum[98]
- September 18 – Mick McGinty, 69, traditional artist for television, film, and video games, including artwork for Street Fighter II and other games in the 1980s and 1990s.[99]
- September 30 – Koichi Sugiyama, 90, composer of the Dragon Quest series among others.[100]
- October 16 – Hiroshi Ono, 64, graphic artist for Namco who did most of their pixel art for their early arcade games, and was otherwise known as "Mr Dotman".[101]
- December 6 – Masayuki Uemura, 78, lead architect of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.[102]
- December 14 – Ian Hetherington, 69, co-founder of Imagine Software and Psygnosis, chairman of Evolution Studios and Realtime Worlds.[103]
- December 28 – John Madden, 85, American football coach and commentator, and namesake of Electronic Arts' Madden NFL series.[104]
Hardware releases
The list of game-related hardware released in 2021.
| Date | Console | Manufacturer | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 15 | Atari VCS[b] | Atari | [105] |
| October 8 | Nintendo Switch (OLED model) | Nintendo | [106] |
| November 3 | Evercade VS | Blaze Entertainment | [107] |
| November 12 | Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda | Nintendo | [108] |
| December 13 | Analogue Pocket | Analogue | [109] |