In the video game industry, 2020 saw the launch of the next generation of video game consoles, with both Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment having released the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles, respectively, in November 2020. The industry was heavily affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which had begun in March and was characterized by COVID-19 lockdowns and remote work. While this caused numerous delays in software and hardware releases and the cancellation of live conferences and events in favor of virtual shows, it also created a boom for the industry as people turned to gaming as a means to pass the time. The industry also reacted to various political/cultural events.
Mobile gaming continued its growth as a major platform for video gaming; as part of this, Epic Games initiated the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit over mobile app store revenue cut policies. Major planned acquisitions included Xbox Game Studios' acquisition of ZeniMax Media and its subsidiaries, and Electronic Arts outbidding Take-Two Interactive for Codemasters.
Series with new installments include Animal Crossing, Assassin's Creed, Bloodstained, Bomberman, Call of Duty, Cook, Serve, Delicious!, Cookie Run, Crash Bandicoot, Danganronpa, Deadly Premonition, Dirt, Doom, Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Granblue Fantasy, Half-Life, Kingdom Hearts, Kirby, The Last of Us, The Legend of Zelda, Mafia, Mana, Medal of Honor, Megami Tensei, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Minecraft, MLB: The Show, Mystery Dungeon, Nioh, Oddworld, One Piece, Ori, Paper Mario, Persona, Project CARS, Resident Evil, Rune Factory, Serious Sam, Shantae, Spelunky, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Streets of Rage, Super Mario, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Total War, Trails, Vampire: The Masquerade, Wasteland, Watch Dogs, Windjammers, Yakuza, Command and Conquer, and Zombie Army.
Financial performance The global market for video games based on 2020 revenues was estimated to exceed according to the International Data Corporation; the growth of 20% over 2019 revenues is attributes to the surge in spending in video games from the COVID-19 pandemic along with the releases of the new consoles.
SuperData Research estimated the global video game market grew by 12% in 2020 to a total in revenues. Mobile games accounted for over or 58% of the market, with computer games at and console games at . Virtual and augmented reality had about , while video gaming content such as online streamers generated an additional . Alt URL
Newzoo estimated the global market for video games in 2020 was , a 23.1% increase from 2019, buoyed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Newzoo anticipated that the 2021 market will see a small decline as the world recovers from COVID-19 and spending on video games slows down, but otherwise the industry would remain on track to break in revenue by 2023.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, while the overall global entertainment and media market dropped by 3.8% during 2020, the video game market grew by 10% over the year, due to the use of video games to help with social distancing during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Largest markets According to market research firm Newzoo, the following countries were the largest video game markets in 2020.
Rank Country Revenue1China$45,642,000,0002United States$39,065,000,0003Japan$20,763,000,0004South Korea$7,530,000,0005Germany$5,702,000,0006United Kingdom$5,117,000,0007France$4,024,000,0008Canada$3,551,000,0009Italy$3,205,000,00010Brazil$2,288,000,000
Highest-grossing games The following are the top ten highest-grossing video games of 2020. Each of the top ten titles grossed more than , while the top four grossed more than each. The majority of the top ten titles are published by Asian companies, including three from Chinese conglomerate Tencent which holds the top two spots.
Rank Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre(s) Business model 1 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) $2,824,000,000 Tencent / Bluehole Battle royale Free-to-play / buy-to-play 2 Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor $2,564,000,000 Tencent MOBA Free-to-play 3 Roblox $2,290,000,000 Roblox Corporation GCS, MMOFree-to-play 4 Garena Free Fire $2,130,000,000 Garena Battle royale5Animal Crossing: New Horizons$2,000,000,000NintendoSocial simBuy-to-play 6 Pokémon Go $1,920,000,000 Niantic / Nintendo ARFree-to-play 7 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare / Warzone $1,913,000,000 Activision FPS, Battle royale Buy-to-play / free-to-play 8 League of Legends $1,750,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBAFree-to-play 9 Candy Crush Saga $1,660,000,000 King Puzzle 10 AFK Arena $1,450,000,000 Lilith Games RPG
Highest-grossing free-to-play games The following titles were the top ten highest-grossing free-to-play games in 2020. Three of the top ten free-to-play titles are published by Tencent, which holds the top two spots.
Rank Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre(s) 1 PUBG Mobile / Game for Peace $2,700,000,000 Tencent / Bluehole Battle royale 2 Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor $2,564,000,000 Tencent MOBA 3 Roblox $2,290,000,000 Roblox Corporation GCS, MMO 4 Garena Free Fire $2,130,000,000 Garena Battle royale 5 Pokémon Go $1,920,000,000 Niantic / Nintendo AR 6 League of Legends $1,750,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBA 7 Candy Crush Saga $1,660,000,000 King Puzzle 8 AFK Arena $1,450,000,000 Lilith Games RPG 9 Gardenscapes: New Acres $1,430,000,000 Playrix Puzzle 10 Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) $1,410,000,000 Nexon / Tencent Beat 'em up, Action RPG
Fortnite grossed more than in 2020, but less than . It fell out of the top ten, dropping from its top spot in 2019.
Best-selling premium games The following titles were the best-selling premium games (including buy-to-play titles) in 2020. Three of the top ten best-selling titles are published by Nintendo, including the year's top-selling game.
Rank Game Units sold Revenue Genre(s) Publisher 1 Animal Crossing: New Horizons 31,800,000$2,000,000,000 Social sim Nintendo 2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare $1,913,000,000 FPS, Battle royale Activision 3 FIFA 20 $1,083,000,000 Sports EA Sports 4 Grand Theft Auto V / Online 20,000,000 $911,000,000 Action-adventure Rockstar Games 5 Cyberpunk 2077 13,000,000 $609,000,000 Action RPG CD Projekt 6 Among Us 12,700,000 Party, Social deduction Innersloth 7 Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout 11,000,000 Battle royale, Platformer Devolver Digital 8 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Kart racing Nintendo 9 Super Mario 3D All-Stars 8,320,000 Platformer 10 NBA 2K21 8,000,000 $889,000,000 Sports 2K Sports
Best-selling games by region The following were 2020's top ten best-selling video games by region (excluding microtransactions and free-to-play titles) on PC and console platforms, for Australia, Japan, Europe, and the United States.
Rank Australia Japan Europe United States 1 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Animal Crossing: New Horizons FIFA 21 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 2 Grand Theft Auto V Ring Fit Adventure Grand Theft Auto V Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa Mo Teiban! Animal Crossing: New Horizons Animal Crossing: New Horizons 4 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Final Fantasy VII Remake FIFA 20 Madden NFL 21 5 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Pokémon Sword / Shield Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6 FIFA 21 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Mario Kart 8 Deluxe The Last of Us Part II 7 Assassin's Creed Valhalla Super Smash Bros. Ultimate The Last of Us Part II Ghost of Tsushima 8 The Last of Us Part II Minecraft: Switch Edition Assassin's Creed Valhalla Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 9 NBA 2K20 Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Super Mario 3D All-Stars 10 NBA 2K21 Super Mario 3D All-Stars Red Dead Redemption 2 Final Fantasy VII Remake
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 90/100 or higher on Metacritic in 2020 Title Developer(s) Publisher(s) Release Platform(s) Average score Persona 5 Royal Atlus Atlus / Sega March 31, 2020 PS4 95 Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition Square Enix December 4, 2020 PS4, XBO 93 Hades Supergiant Games September 17, 2020 WIN, NS 93 Half-Life: Alyx Valve March 23, 2020 WIN, LIN 93 Ori and the Will of the Wisps Moon Studios Iam8bit September 17, 2020 NS 93 The Last of Us Part II Naughty Dog Sony Interactive Entertainment June 19, 2020 PS4 93 Demon's Souls Bluepoint Games / Japan StudioSony Interactive Entertainment November 12, 2020 PS5 92 Crusader Kings III Paradox Development Studio Paradox Interactive September 1, 2020 WIN, LIN 91 F1 2020 Codemasters Birmingham Codemasters July 10, 2020 XBO 91 Microsoft Flight Simulator Asobo Studio Xbox Game Studios August 18, 2020 WIN 91 Spelunky 2 Mossmouth, BlitWorks Mossmouth September 29, 2020 WIN 91 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo EPD Nintendo March 20, 2020 NS 90 Ori and the Will of the Wisps Moon Studios Xbox Game Studios March 11, 2020 XBO 90 Yakuza 0 Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Sega February 26, 2020 XBO 90
Major awards Category/Organization 38th Golden Joystick Awards The Game Awards 2020 17th British Academy Games Awards 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards 21st Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year The Last of Us Part II Hades Independent / Debut Indie Hades Hades Carrion Hades Phasmophobia Debut Phasmophobia Mobile Lego Builder's Journey Among Us Legends of Runeterra Genshin Impact VR/AR Half-Life: Alyx Half-Life: Alyx Artistic Achievement Animation The Last of Us Part II Ghost of Tsushima The Last of Us Part IIGhost of Tsushima Art Direction Hades Ghost of Tsushima Audio Music The Last of Us Part II Final Fantasy VII Remake Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ghost of Tsushima Hades Sound Design The Last of Us Part II Ghost of Tsushima Character or Performance Leading Role Sandra Saad as Kamala KhanMarvel's Avengers Laura Bailey as AbbyThe Last of Us Part II Laura Bailey as AbbyThe Last of Us Part II Miles MoralesSpider-Man: Miles Morales colspan="2" rowspan="2" Supporting Role Logan Cunningham as multiple charactersHades Game Design or Direction Game Design rowspan="2" The Last of Us Part II Hades Hades Hades Game Direction Hades Narrative The Last of Us Part II Hades The Last of Us Part II Technical Achievement colspan="2" Dreams Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer / Online Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Among Us Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout rowspan="10" colspan="2" Action Hades Hades Adventure The Last of Us Part II Ghost of Tsushima Family Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sackboy: A Big Adventure Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fighting Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Role-Playing Final Fantasy VII Remake Final Fantasy VII Remake Sports/Racing Sports rowspan="2" Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 rowspan="2" Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 Racing Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Strategy/Simulation Microsoft Flight Simulator Microsoft Flight Simulator Social Impact Tell Me Why Animal Crossing: New Horizons Special Award rowspan="4" colspan="2" BAFTA Fellowship rowspan="4" Pioneer Award Lifetime Achievement Siobhan Reddy Tom Fulp Laralyn McWilliams
Major events