Games Released in 2006

2,662 new games debuted in 2006 across 10 platforms, with PC seeing 816 releases. November was the busiest month, with 426 releases. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was the most popular release of the year.

Which days had the most releases?

December 2 was the busiest single day of 2006 with 58 releases.

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58 releases

December 2

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55 releases

December 8

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54 releases

December 7

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45 releases

December 14

Which month had the most releases?

The busiest release month of 2006 was November, totaling 426 titles.

How did each season compare?

Q4 was the busiest quarter of 2006 with 1,026 releases.

Q3 (Jul–Sep)

630 releases
Persona 3

Most popular release in Q3

Persona 3

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a role-playing video game developed by Atlus. In the game, the player takes the role of a male high-school student who joins the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), a group of students investigating the Dark Hour, a time period between one day and the next that few people are aware of. During the Dark Hour, the player enters Tartarus, a large tower containing Shadows, creatures that feed on the minds of humans. To fight the Shadows, each member of SEES is able to summon a Persona, a manifestation of a person's inner self. In addition to the standard elements of role-playing games, Persona 3 includes elements of simulation games, as the game's protagonist progresses day by day through a school year, making friends and forming relationships that improve the strength of his Personas in battle.

Q4 (Oct–Dec)

1,026 releases
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Most popular release in Q4

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the last Zelda game for GameCube, it was highly anticipated by many members of the gaming community and was regarded as finally fulfilling the dreams of those who wanted a much more realistic and mature game than the ones before. The art is similar to the naturalistic style of Ocarina of Time, rather than the cel-shaded look of The Wind Waker. The main adventure takes place in several provinces with dungeons and temples. New to this game is the ability for Link to transform into a Wolf when entering the Twilight. As a wolf, Link can use his senses to solve puzzles and get past obstacles, he can also dig holes to find hearts and rupees. Twilight Princess has received universal acclaim from reviewers and journalists, who cited it as the greatest Zelda game of all time.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

PC received 816 new titles in 2006, holding the most releases. The runner up was PlayStation 2 with 538 new titles.

PC816 releases
PlayStation 2538 releases
Nintendo DS299 releases
PlayStation Portable299 releases
Web browser193 releases
Game Boy Advance177 releases
Xbox 360138 releases
Legacy Mobile Device121 releases
Xbox118 releases
Wii102 releases

What genres were most popular?

Adventure was the dominant genre in 2006 with 573 titles. Shooter followed closely with 319.

Adventure573
Shooter319
Puzzle317
Simulator305
Role-playing291
Strategy271
Sport265
Platform247
Arcade229
Racing208
20052007