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The top-selling games of 2019 and the entire decade have been revealed for the United States, and there are no surprises.

As expected, Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare finished the year at No. 1, according to sales charts released by the NPD Group on Thursday. Call of Duty games are typically the year’s best-sellers, with the exception of when Rockstar puts out a game. For example, the only times in the past 10 years when Call of Duty was not No. 1 was in 2013 and 2018, when Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 were released.

Rounding out the top five for 2019 were NBA 2K20, Madden NFL 20, Borderlands 3, and Mortal Kombat 11. Respawn’s new Star Wars game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, ended 2019 at No. 6. You can see the full Top 10 chart below.

The NPD Group also released a ranking of the top-selling games of the decade, and Grand Theft Auto V unsurprisingly comes out on top. Call of Duty games also dominated the charts for the past decade, while Red Dead Redemption 2 and Minecraft made it into the top 10 as well. You can see the full top-selling games of the decade chart below.

For the full year of 2019, total spending on video games–covering hardware, software, and accessories–reached $14.6 billion, which is down 13 percent. Video game sales specifically fell nine percent to $6.6 billion. The Nintendo Switch was the only system that grew during 2019.

Dollar sales of tracked video game software declined 13 percent in December compared to a year ago, to $1.1 billion, while annual sales dropped nine percent to $6.6 billion. Declines were experienced across all platforms in December, while Switch was the only platform with gains for the year.

Spending on hardware in 2019 fell by a substantial 22 percent, to $3.9 billion. The Switch grew in 2019 but it was not enough to offset the downturn in PS4 and Xbox One sales. That is to be expected, given those systems are relatively older; both Sony and Microsoft are launching next-generation consoles this year. The Switch was the best-selling home console of 2019.

December 2019 Best-Selling Games (US Only)

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
3. Madden NFL 20
4. NBA 2K20
5. Luigi’s Mansion 3*
6. Pokemon Sword*
7. Mario Kart 8*
8. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
9. Pokemon Shield*
10. Minecraft

2019 Best Selling Games (US Only)

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. NBA 2K20
3. Madden NFL 20
4. Borderlands 3
5. Mortal Kombat 11
6. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
8. Kingdom Hearts III
9. The Division 2
10. Mario Kart 8*

Best Selling Games Of The Decade (2010-2019; US Only)

1. Grand Theft Auto V
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
6. Call of Duty: Ghosts
7. Red Dead Redemption 2
8. Call of Duty: WWII
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
10. Minecraft

*Digital sales not included

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare finished 2019 as the best-selling game of the year for the 11th year in a row.

According to the NPD, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was the best-selling game of the month for the third month in a row. The Infinity Ward developed reboot of the Modern Warfare franchise finished the year as the selling-game of 2019. Not only that, but the Call of Duty franchise occupies seven spots in the top 10 best-selling games of the decade list.

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Meanwhile, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order finished as the second best-selling game of the month and was 2019’s sixth best-selling game with only two months in the market. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is also Respawn Entertainment’s best-selling game of all time in full-game sales.

Other repeat successes include MLB The Show 19, which is now the best-selling baseball game in U.S. history, as well as Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pokemon Sword.

In hardware news, the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform for both December and all of 2019. But the best-selling hardware for the decade was the PlayStation 4.

December’s Best-Selling Games

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• Madden NFL 20
• NBA 2K20
• Luigi’s Mansion 3
• Pokemon Sword
• Mario Kart 8
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Pokemon Shield
• Minecraft

Best-Selling Games of 2019

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
• NBA 2K20
• Madden NFL20
• Borderlands 3
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Kingdom Hearts 3
• Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
• Mario Kart 8

Best-Selling Games of the Decade (2010-2019)

• Grand Theft Auto 5
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
• Call of Duty: Ghosts
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Call of Duty: WW2
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
• Minecraft

Christopher Tolkien, the son of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, has died at the age of 95. News of his death came from a statement on the Tolkien Society website Thursday.

“It is with great sadness that we can confirm that Tolkien’s son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien has died aged 95,” the statement said.

The Head of the Tolkien Estate

After his father passed away in 1973, Christopher became the literary executor of the Tolkien Estate, and it was he who edited The Silmarillion and had it published in 1977, as well as The Fall of Gondolin in 2018, which were based on his father’s unpublished Lord of the Rings material.

Christopher drew the maps of Middle-earth featured in the Lord of the Rings books.

The Lord of the Rings Films

Christopher was a vocal critic of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy based on his father’s work. He expressed his distaste for the Peter Jackson films, saying in a 2012 interview about Lord of the Rings with French newspaper Le Monde, “They gutted the book, making an action film for 15 to 25-year-olds.”

His frustrations with the Lord of the Rings films took form in a series of lawsuits, one of which he claimed New Line Cinema owed the Tolkien family £80 million in unpaid royalties. In 2009, an undisclosed settlement was reached between the two parties, and he retracted his public objection to The Hobbit films based on his father’s work.

A Look Back at the Life of Christopher Tolkien

Christopher was born in Leeds, United Kingdom on November 21, 1924, fought in World War II as part of the Royal Air Force, and became a lecturer in Old and Middle English as well as Old Icelandic at the University of Oxford.

A Tribute to Christopher Tolkien

Mark Ordesky, producer on The Lord of the Rings movies, expressed his condolences on social media, tweeting, “An age of Middle-earth has ended. We have Christopher Tolkien to thank for countless vistas and legends we might never have known without his dedication and stewardship. The world is brighter for the light you cast, like the Star of Eärendil.”

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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

 

Destiny 2 teased a new shirt for its store recently, with all proceeds being put towards relief efforts for the bushfires that have been ravaging Australia. The shirt, the sales of which will benefit New South Wales Rural Fire Services and WIRES wildlife rescue, is available now for preorder. It depicts a ship flying over the Australian outback. It’s called “Guardians for Australia.”

The shirt, which is available in men’s and women’s sizes, comes with a free code for a “Star Light, Star Bright” emblem, redeemable within the game. The shirt retails for $25. It will be available until February 19, and shipping to Australia is available at a rate of US$7.50.

A separate fan campaign from Destiny’s ANZ fanbase is also underway, and is looking to earn AU$20,000 for the Australian Red Cross. To date, it has brought in $14,311 and climbing.

This is just one of several gaming initiatives currently raising money to help Australia. A new Humble Bundle has collected together 29 games, with proceeds going towards three different charities, and Call of Duty and Ubisoft have also gotten involved. Several auctions are running on Twitter right now under the oversight of the Game Devs For Fireys initiative.

Over at CNET, there’s an extensive breakdown of what’s happening and how you can help, and what you should know, about the Australian bushfires.

Google Stadia only has one exclusive game right now–Tequila Works’ Gylt, which launched with the system. However, that’s set to change over the first half of 2020, with Google planning on several new exclusives for the system.

“Looking at our upcoming lineup, we are tracking more than 120 games coming to Stadia in 2020,” a press release reads, “and are targeting more than ten games in the first half of this year alone that will be only available on Stadia when they launch.”

“We’re working with our partners to share more on those games soon,” the release continues.

There’s no word yet on what those exclusives could be, although it’s possible that Typhoon Studios, the developer of Journey to the Savage Planet, is working on something after being bought out by Stadia. Tequila Works CEO Raul Rubio has sung the praises of developing for Stadia, so it’s possible that other major studios have been courted for exclusives.

Furthermore, additional features have been promised for the next three months. These include:

• Support for 4k gaming on the Web
• Further Assistant functionality when playing on the Web
• Support for additional Android Phones
• Wireless gameplay on the Web through the Stadia controller

It’s worth noting that Xbox Series X plans on launching without any next-gen exclusives; the major players on the console market are all taking noticeably different approaches right now.

AMC’s Better Call Saul has been renewed for a sixth and final season ahead of its Season 5 premiere. The announcement was made by showrunner Peter Gould at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.

“From day one of Better Call Saul, my dream was to tell the complete story of our complicated and compromised hero, Jimmy McGill – now AMC and Sony are making that dream come true,” Gould said. “We couldn’t be more grateful to the fans and critics who are making this journey possible. Next month we start work on the sixth and final season — we’re going to do our damnedest to stick the landing.” Gould went on to say that Season 6 will premiere sometime in 2021.

When asked about the possibility for more spinoffs set within the Breaking Bad universe (especially following the positive reviews El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie received from fans and critics), executive producer Vince Gilligan said, “I think you can put too much hot fudge on a sundae. I certainly don’t have any plans to keep the universe going after this wonderful series ends. You don’t want to drive it into the ground.”

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Gould also spilled the beans about some iconic Breaking Bad characters making cameos in Season 5, so stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers…

While we’re not sure how these characters will be featured, Gould did say that Dean Norris will return as Hank Schrader during episodes 3 and 4 of Better Call Saul Season 5. Steven Michael Quezada will also appear as Steven Gomez. Gould declined to reveal if we’d see other Breaking Bad characters in Season 5, however, he did confirm that Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman and Bryan Cranston’s Walter White will not be making guest appearances.

For more on the world of Breaking Bad, be sure to check out our review of El Camino: A Breaking bad Movie in the video below:

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David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He’s also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.