In the video game industry during 2019, both Sony and Microsoft announced their intent to reveal their next-generation consoles in 2020, while Nintendo introduced a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, and Google announced its streaming game platform Stadia. The controversy over loot boxes as a potential gambling route continued into 2019, with some governments like Belgium and the Netherlands banning games with them under their gambling laws, while the United Kingdom acknowledging their current laws prevent enforcing these as if they were games of chance. The first video cards to support real-time ray tracing were put onto the consumer market, including the first set of games that would take advantage of the new technology. The Epic Games Store continued its growth in challenging the largest digital PC game distribution service Steam, leading to concern and debate about Epic Games' methods to seek games for its service. Dota Auto Chess, a community-created mod for Dota 2, introduced a new subgenre of strategy games called auto battlers, which saw several games in the genre released throughout the year. Blizzard Entertainment faced criticism due to their involvement in the Blitzchung controversy, which began after they had banned a Hearthstone player for making comments during a tournament regarding the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
Series with new installments in 2019 include Ace Combat, Age of Wonders, Bloodstained, Borderlands, Bubsy, Call of Duty, Contra, Crackdown, Crash Bandicoot, Dead or Alive, Devil May Cry, Digimon, Dr. Mario, Earth Defense Force, Far Cry, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Gears of War, God Eater, Kingdom Hearts, Kirby, Luigi's Mansion, Mario & Sonic, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, MediEvil, Metro, MLB The Show, Mortal Kombat, Need for Speed, No More Heroes, Onimusha, Persona, Pokémon, Rage, Resident Evil, Rivals of Aether, Science Adventure, Shantae, Shenmue, Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Wars, Super Mario, Terminator, Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Tom Clancy's The Division, Total War, Trials, Tropico, Umihara Kawase, Vampire: The Masquerade, Wolfenstein, WWE 2K, Yooka-Laylee, Yoshi, and Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Financial performance SuperData Research estimated that the video game industry grew 4% in 2019, reaching in global revenues. SuperData stated the market was dominated by mobile games which made up , with personal computer games at and console games at .
App Annie, which tracks all mobile app sales, estimated that mobile games accounted for 72% of the spent on the various app stores in 2019, or , with the potential to exceed by 2020. Mobile game expenditures made up 56% of all video game-related revenues in 2019.
Highest-grossing games The following were 2019's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide digital revenue (including digital purchases, microtransactions, free-to-play and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including mobile, PC and console platforms). The top ten highest-grossing digital games of the year were all free-to-play games, each grossing more than worldwide in 2019. Six of the top ten highest-grossing games, including the top five titles, are published and/or owned by Chinese conglomerate Tencent.
Rank Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre(s) Business model 1 Fortnite $3,709,000,000 Epic Games Battle royale, Survival Free-to-play 2 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) $1,788,000,000 Bluehole / Tencent Battle royale Free-to-play / buy-to-play 3 Dungeon Fighter Online $1,600,000,000 Nexon / Tencent Beat 'em up Free-to-play 4 Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor $1,600,000,000 Tencent MOBA 5 League of Legends $1,500,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent 6 Candy Crush Saga $1,500,000,000 King Puzzle 7 Pokémon Go $1,400,000,000 Niantic / Nintendo / The Pokémon Company AR 8 Crossfire $1,400,000,000 Smilegate / Tencent FPS 9 Fate/Grand Order $1,200,000,000 Aniplex RPG 10 Last Shelter: Survival $1,100,000,000 Long Tech Simulation
Best-selling games by country The following were 2019's top ten best-selling video games by country, in terms of software units sold (excluding microtransactions and free-to-play titles) on PC and console platforms, for the United States, Japan, and United Kingdom.
Rank Japan United Kingdom United States 1 Pokémon Sword / Shield FIFA 20 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Call of Duty: Modern Warfare NBA 2K20 3 Kingdom Hearts III Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Madden NFL 20 4 Super Mario Maker 2 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Borderlands 3 5 Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Pokémon Sword / Shield Mortal Kombat 11 6 New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Red Dead Redemption 2 Kingdom Hearts III 7 Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition FIFA 19 Tom Clancy's The Division 2 8 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Pokémon Sword / Shield 9 Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition Grand Theft Auto V Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 10 Luigi's Mansion 3 Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Top-rated games Critically acclaimed games Metacritic is an aggregator of video game journalism reviews. It generally considers expansions and re-releases as separate entities.
+Releases scoring higher than 90/100 in 2019 Title Developer(s) Publisher(s) Release Platform(s) MC score Divinity: Original Sin II – Definitive Edition Larian Studios September 4, 2019 NS 93 Red Dead Redemption 2 Rockstar Games November 5, 2019 WIN 93Beat SaberBeat GamesMay 21, 2019WIN93 Resident Evil 2 Capcom January 25, 2019 XBO 93 Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition Square Enix September 27, 2019 NS 91 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice FromSoftware Activision March 22, 2019 XBO 91 Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Square Enix July 2, 2019 PS4 91 Disco Elysium ZA/UM October 15, 2019 WIN 91 Nier: Automata – Game of the Yorha Edition PlatinumGames Square Enix February 26, 2019 PS4 91 Resident Evil 2 Capcom January 25, 2019 PS4 91Final Fantasy XIV: ShadowbringersSquare EnixJuly 2, 2019WIN90 Monster Hunter: World – Iceborne Capcom September 6, 2019 XBO 90Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive EditionMoon StudiosMicrosoft StudiosSeptember 27, 2019NS90 Tetris Effect Monstars, Resonair Enhance Games July 23, 2019 WIN 90 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice FromSoftware Activision March 22, 2019 PS4 90
Major awards Category/Organization 37th Golden Joystick Awards The Game Awards 2019 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards 20th Game Developers Choice Awards 16th British Academy Games Awards Game of the Year Resident Evil 2 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Untitled Goose Game Outer Wilds Independent / Debut Indie Outer Wilds Disco Elysium Untitled Goose Game Disco Elysium Debut Disco Elysium Mobile/Portable BTS World Call of Duty: Mobile Sayonara Wild Hearts What the Golf? Call of Duty: Mobile VR/AR Beat Saber Pistol Whip Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series Artistic Achievement Animation Devil May Cry 5 Control Luigi's Mansion 3 Control Luigi's Mansion 3 Art Direction Control Sayonara Wild Hearts Audio Music Resident Evil 2 Death Stranding Control Control Disco Elysium Sound Design Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Death Stranding Ape Out Character or Performance Leading Role Logan Marshall-Green as David SmithTelling Lies Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff UngerDeath Stranding The GooseUntitled Goose Game colspan="2" rowspan="2" Gonzalo Martin as Sean DiazLife Is Strange 2 Supporting Role Martti Suosalo as Ahti the JanitorControl Game Directionor Design Game Design rowspan="2" Death Stranding Baba Is You Baba Is You Outer Wilds Game Direction Control Narrative Days Gone Disco Elysium Technical Achievement colspan="2" Death Stranding Control Death Stranding Multiplayer/Online Apex Legends colspan="2" Apex Legends Action Devil May Cry 5 Control rowspan="2" colspan="3" Adventure Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Family Luigi's Mansion 3 Super Mario Maker 2 colspan="2" Untitled Goose Game Fighting Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 11 rowspan="5" colspan="3" Role-Playing Disco Elysium The Outer Worlds Sports/Racing Sports rowspan="2" Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled FIFA 20 Racing Mario Kart Tour Strategy/Simulation Fire Emblem: Three Houses Social Impact Gris colspan="3" Kind Words Special Award Lifetime Achievement rowspan="2" Hall of Fame Ambassador Award Pioneer Award BAFTA Fellowship Yu Suzuki Connie Booth Kate Edwards Roberta Williams Hideo Kojima
Major events