Despite a 25% decrease in earnings from 2018, Fortnite was still the highest-earning video game of 2019, as reported by Variety.
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The massively successful game managed to see $1.8 billion this year, leading the way again for top earners, according to research from Nielsen-owned SuperData. In 2018, Fortnite set a record for earnings with $2.4 billion.
Free-to-play games as a whole lead the way in earnings this year. Nexon’s Dungeon Fighter Online, Tencent’s Honour of Kings, Riot Games's League of Legends, King Digital’s Candy Crush Saga, Niantic’s Pokémon Go, and SmileGate’s Crossfire all earned over $1 billion in revenue.
The top two titles for AAA games this year were EA’s FIFA 19, which earned $786 million, followed by Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which earned $645 million.
SuperData projects 2020 to be a major year for AAA blockbusters with CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077, which stars Keanu Reeves and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II both releasing in a few months.
To cap off 2020 will be the release of the next generation of consoles. Both Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series X are expected to release by Holiday 2020. SuperData describes the impact of their release on gaming sales as, “a large expansion opportunity for digital games as powerful hardware enables new, more immersive experiences."
