Most-Anticipated Holiday 2016 Games, According to New Nielsen Survey

Research group Nielsen today published the results of its annual Most Anticipated Holiday games survey, finding that shooters Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1 are on the top of gamers' wish lists when it comes to multiplatform releases.

The games each had a 96 percent anticipation level. This is measured by a number of factors that make up the Nielsen Game Rank, including awareness, purchase interest, and consumer rating. The percent value is relative to the pre-release anticipation level for other games released on a particular platform. For multiplatform games, like Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1, the figure comes from an average of the values from each platform.

The percent value is broken down on this basis:

• 50 percent - Average anticipation
• 70-79 percent -- well above average anticipation
• 80-89 percent -- very strong anticipation
• 90-100 percent -- extremely high anticipation

As Nielsen mentioned, Battlefield 1's fourth quarter release is the fist time in three years that a Battlefield game has come out in the October-December time period, which is what this survey tracks.

Final Fantasy XV (95 percent) was just below Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1, while Batman: Return to Arkham (83 percent), Mafia III (83 percent), Dead Rising 4 (79 percent), Titanfall 2 (77 percent), and Watch Dogs 2 (75 percent) rounded out the other high-ranking multiplatform games.

As for platform-exclusives, Gears of War 4 (99 percent) led the way on Xbox One, while Batman: Arkham VR (95 percent) was the most highly sought-after PS4 game this holiday. On Wii U, Paper Mario: Color Splash (92 percent) led the way, while Civilization IV (94 percent) took the top spot on PC.

Pokemon Sun (99 percent) edged out Pokemon Moon (98 percent) on 3DS, while Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors (89 percent) was No. 1 for PlayStation Vita.

6,000 people, aged 7-54, took part in the survey; it was conducted between August 21 and Sept. 24. You can read the full report here.

What is your most-anticipated holiday game? Let us know in the comments below!