With the holiday shopping season quickly approaching, it is becoming apparent that the current year is already entering its final stretch. Over three-quarters of the way through 2016 thus far, and fans have started to take notice that the year has featured more than a handful of amazing games – Overwatch, Doom, Gears of War 4, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Dark Souls 3, and XCOM 2 just to name a few. Even with a slew of well-received video games boasted by developers from only the past 10 months alone, gamers look forward to the coming weeks which promise some of the most anticipated titles of 2016.

Fall has always been a busy time period in terms of video game retail, but judging by the number of AAA titles making their way to store shelves within the next 60 days or so, this holiday shopping season could be one of the most competitive in recent memory. With Sony recently releasing (what they hope to be) their gaming platform of the future in the form of PlayStaytion VR, a myriad of new launch window titles are either already available or on their way to stores within the next few weeks. Not to mention, high profile sequels, spin-offs, and even some exciting brand new IP look to make waves on consoles such as Xbox One, PlayStaytion 4, and the Nintendo 3DS later this fall.

With at least a handful of new games being released every week at this point, it may be a bit difficult to keep up with the hottest titles in the world of gaming but fear not as Nielsen Game Rank has constructed a list of the most anticipated games still slated for release this year. Topping this list of most anticipated games are Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardianand both Pokémon Sun & Moon versions among others.

Nielsen Most Anticipated Games 2016

Based on metrics such as consumer awareness and ratings, purchase interest, brand recognition, as well as others, Nielsen Game Rank has statistically listed the most anticipated games slated for release in 2016. Data was collected from surveys of thousands of gamers age 7 to 54 between August and September of this year. Only titles that scored above 75 percent qualified for this Most Anticipated collection.

Also cracking the list of fall's most anticipated are sequels to successful franchises such as Watch Dogs 2, Civilization VI, Titanfall 2, Dead Rising 4and Mario Party: Star Rush just to name a few. This is certainly not an all-encompassing list of upcoming video games by any stretch, but for those looking to peruse a handful of 2016's hottest titles for either themselves or loved ones, Nielsen's list is definitely a good place to start.

Source: The Nielsen Company