The year is finally winding down. The last big month for game releases, November, has come and gone. The NPD Group recently released the data on how video games fared in the United States during a November full of competition. Overall, spending across all categories fell 19% to $2.3 billion when compared to last November, and fell 12% to $11.6 billion for the year so far when compared to the same time frame last year.
Coming in at the top spot again is, last month’s number one, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The game is already the best selling game of 2019, but, thanks to selling well in November, the game has become the best selling game in the overall past 12 months. Placing second was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The game had the fastest selling digital launch for the series, but it also had the second highest launch month dollar sales just behind 2015’s Star Wars Battlefront. It also has become the ninth best selling game of the year.
Crazily, spots 3-5 were all taken by the newest Pokémon games. Pokémon Sword took the 3 spot and Pokémon Shield took the fifth spot. In between them was the Double Pack that included both games. The game combined to become the fastest selling Switch games upon released, and became the record holder for launch month dollar sales for the franchise. Elsewhere, placing seventh on the list is the divisive Death Stranding. Though it was low in the Top 10, it still lands in the Top 10 for dollar sales for a Sony published game since the NPD began tracking.
You can see the Top 10 best selling games of November below:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order^
- Pokémon Sword*
- Pokémon Sword and Pokemon Shield Double Pack*
- Pokémon Shield*
- Madden NFL 20
- Death Stranding
- NBA 2K20
- Need for Speed: Heat
- Luigi’s Mansion 3*
*: Digital Sales not included
^: Steam Sales not included
On the hardware side, the Nintendo Switch again was the best selling console, and is obviously the best selling console of the year. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One continue to stagnate and decline in sales as the generation nears it end. The PlayStation 5 is set to release next holiday season as is the Xbox Series X which was officially unveiled at The Game Awards mere days ago.