1998 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as F-Zero X, Marvel vs. Capcom, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid, Glover, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Gex: Enter the Gecko, Fallout 2, Return to Krondor and Tomb Raider III, along with new titles such as Banjo-Kazooie, Half-Life, MediEvil, Radiant Silvergun, Spyro the Dragon, StarCraft and Xenogears.

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The year's best-selling video game console was the PlayStation for the third year in a row. The year's most critically acclaimed title was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which remains Metacritic's highest-scoring game of all time. The year's best-selling home video game worldwide was Pokémon Red/Green/Blue/Pikachu for the Game Boy, while the year's highest-grossing arcade game in Japan was Tekken 3.

• Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) hosts its first annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo is inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.
• British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the first annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards.
• January 1 – The ESRB changes the "K-A" (Kids to Adults) rating to "E" (Everyone).
• March 14 – Sega announces the discontinuation of the Sega Saturn in North America to prepare for the launch of its successor, the Dreamcast.^[1][2]
• May:
  • 28 – Bill Williams, designer of Alley Cat, Necromancer, and Mind Walker, dies.
  • 28–30 – The fourth annual E3 is held in Atlanta, Georgia.^[3] Following the show, the inaugural Game Critics Awards was held with winners being titled Best of E3.
• July 3 – Danielle Bunten Berry, designer of M.U.L.E. and Seven Cities of Gold, dies.
• September 6 – Infogrames Entertainment, SA and Canal+ launch the Game One television channel.
• November 28 – Video game retailer FuncoLand opens its 300th location in Nashville, Tennessee.^[4]
• December – Take-Two Interactive forms the Rockstar Games publishing label.

• Activision acquires CD Contact Data and Head Games Publishing.
• Eidos Interactive acquires Crystal Dynamics.
• Electronic Arts Inc. acquires Westwood Studios, and with so they also acquire the North American operations of Virgin Interactive.
• JTS Corp. (Atari Corporation) files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• Hasbro Interactive acquires the Atari brand and property from JTS in May. They also acquire MicroProse in August.
• Square Co. and Electronic Arts form Square Electronic Arts LLC to publish a wealth of Square Co. titles in the U.S.
• Havas, a subsidiary of Vivendi, acquires Cendant Software, which includes Sierra On-Line and Blizzard Entertainment.
• Lego Media established by Lego Group
• New companies: BreakAway, Elixir, Metro3D, Rockstar, Sunrise, Troika, WildTangent, Loki, Retro Studios
• Defunct: DWANGO

The list of games released in 1998.

• 1998 in games