Every month the NPD Group reports the cold, hard sales facts, but today the company’s lead analyst Mat Piscatella stepped out of the company’s comfort zone by predicting what will be 2019’s biggest games. Surprise, surprise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been picked as the winner – the ninth time a CoD game will have topped the year-end charts in the past 11 years. Here’s the Piscatella’s full predicted top 10:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- NBA 2K20
- Madden NFL 20
- Borderlands 3
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Star War Jedi: Fallen Order
- Ghost Recon Breakpoint
- Kingdom Hearts III
- The Division 2
- Pokemon Sword and Shield
An interesting lineup. While Call of Duty at #1 is pretty much an inevitability, I wonder if Piscatella is predicting too much from Borderlands 3? Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is also a big question mark – I think it’s really going to come down to reviews with that one. If Fallen Order ends up being so-so, I think it will fall down the list while games like Ghost Recon Breakpoint and Kingdom Hearts III will get a boost.
Overall, despite several consecutive down months, NPD is still predicting modest industry growth of around 6 percent year-on-year.
Total 2019 US Video Game industry spending forecast at $45B, up 6% vs YA. This follows growth years of 20% in 2017, and 14% in 2018. Slowing growth, but growth. pic.twitter.com/Bwz0A8npOn
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) September 20, 2019
Most of that growth will be driven by content sales, particularly digital and mobile add-ons.
Content sales are expected to drive that growth. Mobile and Digital Console content forecast to be the biggest drivers. In hardware, growth for Switch won't be able to offset declines on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. pic.twitter.com/vCg3uGfdf9
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) September 20, 2019
What do you think the 2019 top 10 will be when all is said and done? Do you think there will be any surprises? Personally, I’m hoping Resident Evil 2 and Link’s Awakening can squeak onto the list.
