The titles at the top of the video game charts through December were a familiar lot.
Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare nabbed the top spot on the video game charts for a third consecutive month, ending the year as the best-selling game of 2019. Electronic Arts’ (EA) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order made a repeat appearance at No. 2 for the month while securing its position as the No. 6 best-selling game of the year. In just two months of release, Fallen Order became the best-selling game of all-time for developer Respawn Entertainment. Of note, half of December’s top 20 best-selling games were published by Nintendo, and the Nintendo Switch remains the one current system showing continued growth.
According to the NPD Group, overall sales for the entire video game category — including hardware, software, and accessories — was $3 billion, a 15% decline from 2018. In terms of overall software sales, December’s $1.1 billion was a 13% decrease from the same period in 2018.
2019 Video Game Highlights
- Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform of the year.
- Hardware sales fell 22%.
- Nintendo Switch was the only platform with software sales gains for the full year.
- MLB The Show 19 — released in March — became the best-selling baseball genre game in U.S. history, and it is platform exclusive to the Playstation 4.
It’s no secret that the past year has been a rough one for the video game industry — but it was expected in the year on the cusp of a new generation console year.
Total spending across the entire video game category was $14.6 billion, a 13% decline from 2018. Software sales slid 9% to $6.6 billion.
Top 20 Video Games of 2019
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- NBA 2K20
- Madden NFL 20
- Borderlands 3
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Kingdom Hearts III
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
- Mario Kart 8
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Minecraft
- FIFA 20
- Anthem
- Pokemon Sword
- Resident Evil 2 (2019)
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Days Gone
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
Looking ahead, the gaming industry should see a major upswing later this year as news emerges timed with E3 this summer and the release of the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 this fall.
