IO Interactive also bought itself out and went independent, along with its Hitman IP, in 2017, and the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro both launched. On top of that the Nintendo Switch launched and Microsoft announced Game Pass too - which would forge its business path for the next few cycles. 2017 saw Microsoft cancel Scalebound, EA close Visceral, all while E3 went public. 2017 was the year of the triumphant return of Blade Runner with 2049, as well as Tom Holland’s proper Spider-Man outing in Homecoming it was also the year of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ and the catchy ‘Despacito’ track. In fact, it didn’t take Epic long, as Fornite’s battle royale mode was quick out the blocks in 2017 too, and the rest, as they say, is history! From a non-games perspective, 2017 was the year of the #MeToo movement, Prince Harry got engaged to Megham Markle, there was a solar eclipse, and it was the year that NFL players started taking the knee (after Colin Kaepernick first did it back in 2016). Ahhh, 2017! The year the games industry changed forever! Well, not forever, but at least for the next decade or so, because thanks to PUBG, the battle royale genre became the next big thing that developers would flock to for years to come.

Best games of 2017 xbox one.