Fortnite was the highest-earning game of the year again

(Image credit: Epic Games)

The unrelenting success of Fortnite continued for another year, with Epic's all-consuming (including Star Wars) battle royale earning a ridiculous $1.8 billion in 2019, according to SuperData's Year in Review report. It's not a record-setting number like its first year, but no other game generated as much cash in 2019.

Free-to-play games continue to be the top earners, with four out of every five dollars spent on digital games going towards them. A lot of that is on mobile, which netted $64.4 billion over the year, followed by PC at $29.6 billion. Combined, consoles generated $15.4 billion. On consoles and PC, free-to-play revenue actually dipped, though it rose by several billion on mobile.

Premium games didn't have quite as good a year, where revenue dipped by five percent. FIFA 19, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and GTA 5 took the top spots, followed by more Call of Duty and more FIFA. The diverse selection of games we got to play through last year aren't exactly reflected in the top ten.

Overall, however, digital games and interactive media earned more than in any other year, at $120.1 billion, though that includes money earned by YouTube and Twitch's gaming videos and streams. Digital games alone, however, reached $109.4 billion, also a record.

I just ate an extremely old pot noodle to save money, so these numbers are just gibberish to me. The tomato sauce tasted weird.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.