November 2018 NPD Sales Results

The November 2018 sales results have been released by the NPD, which tracks software and hardware sales for the U.S. Overall the month was flat with sales of $2.693 billion. Hardware made up $1.182 billion of that number, which is 3% hire than last year’s November. Software took a slight dip down by 15% with $1.008 billion in sales. Some of this can be attributed to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launching in October this year instead of its usual November bow. Accessories were up 35% with $371 million in sales. Overall the year is still in great shape – up 16% over last year for the eleven month reporting period. You have to go all the way back to 2010 to find a higher revenue year.

From the NPD group and ResetEra, here’s more factoids about November’s results:

SOFTWARE

Best Year for Software since 2011: Dollar sales of Console, Portable and PC Games Software totaled $1 billion in November 2018, declining 15 percent when compared to a year ago. The shift in launch timing for Call of Duty from November to October is the driver of the change. Year-to-date dollar sales of Console, Portable and PC Games Software exceeded $5.8 billion, a 9 percent increase over the same time period last year. This is the highest year-to-date total for Software spending since the $7 billion achieved in the year-to-date 2011 comparable period.

RDR2 is the best selling game of the month: Red Dead Redemption 2 is the best-selling game of November 2018 and is the 2nd best-selling game year-to-date. With two months in market, sales of Red Dead Redemption 2 now exceed the lifetime sales of the previous title in the franchise, Red Dead Redemption, by nearly 40 percent.

Black Ops 4 is the best selling game this year: Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII is the second best-selling game of November, and remains the best-selling game year to date. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII is the second fastest selling game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in history, trailing only 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII. This is the fifth consecutive year, and ninth time in the last 10 years, that a title from the Call of Duty franchise has been the best-selling game over the January through November time period

Fallout 76 falls short of 4 and New Vegas: Fallout 76 is the 4th best-selling game of November, despite digital not being reported for Bethesda Softworks published titles. Fallout 76 physical sales achieved the third highest launch month sales in franchise history, trailing only Fallout 4 and Fallout New Vegas.

Pokemon has a strong opening; Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee are the #5 and #6 best-selling games of November, respectively. Launch month sales of Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu are the second highest in franchise history, trailing only Pokeman Stadium, which launched on the Nintendo 64 in the March 2000 tracking period. Please note that Pokemon Let’s Go sales totals include only physical sales, as digital sales are not currently reported for Nintendo published titles. According to Nintendo, the titles have sold 2 million units in the US, including digital sales.

Spyro Remastered charts in the Top Ten: Spyro Reignited Trilogy is the #9 best-selling game of November. The launch month dollar sales of Spyro Reignited Trilogy are more than 30 percent higher than the combined launch month sales of all other Spyro games in history (excluding Skylanders).

Black Friday deals help God of War: Sony’s God of War returns to the monthly top 20 best-sellers list for the first time since August, ranking as the #16 best-selling game of November. It is currently the #7 best-selling game year-to-date.

HARDWARE & ACCESSORIES

Hardware spend is up YTD: For the 2018 year-to-date period, hardware spending has increased 14 percent, to $3.9 billion. Spending gains for Xbox One, Switch, PlayStation 4 and Plug N Play devices such as the NES Classic Edition and SNES Classic Edition have driven growth.

All current gen consoles sell over 1.3m each: For the first time in history, three Console platforms achieved more than 1 million units sold in a November month, as the Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One each generated over 1.3m units of sales. It is only the second time in history any 3 platforms achieved more than 1 million units sold in a November period, the first occurred in November 2010, when the Nintendo DS, Wii and Xbox 360 achieved the feat.

Hardware for November: PlayStation 4 was the leading hardware platform of November 2018 in unit sales. Nintendo Switch was the leading hardware platform of November 2018 in dollar sales. The PlayStation 4 remains the leader in hardware platform dollar sales year to date.

Accessories and Game Card spending hits an all time high: Total spending on Accessories and Game Cards grew 35 percent in November 2018 when compared to a year ago, to an all-time high of $503 million. Year to date, Accessories and Game Card spending has grown 35 percent when compared to a year ago, to $3.5 billion. This is also an all-time high.

RANKINGS (November 2018)
Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel, ranked on dollar sales

1. Red Dead Redemption II
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII^
3. Battlefield V^
4. Fallout 76*
5. Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu*
6. Pokemon: Lets Go Eevee*
7. NBA 2K19
8. Madden NFL 19^
9. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
10. FIFA 19^
11. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
12. Super Mario Party*
13. Marvel’s Spider-Man
14. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe*
15. WWE 2K19
16. God of War 2018
17. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
18. Just Dance 2019
19. Grand Theft Auto V
20. Forza Horizon 4

* Digital sales not included
^ PC digital sales not included

PS4

1. Red Dead Redemption II
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII
3. Fallout 76*
4. Battlefield V
5. NBA 2K19
6. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
7. Madden NFL 19
8. Marvel’s Spider-Man
9. FIFA 19
10. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

XB1

1. Red Dead Redemption II
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII
3. Battlefield V
4. Fallout 76*
5. Madden NFL 19
6. NBA 2K19
7. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
8. FIFA 19
9. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
10. Forza Horizon 4

Switch

1. Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu
2. Pokemon: Lets Go Eevee
3. Super Mario Party
4. Mario Kart 8
5. Super Mario Odyssey
6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
7. Just Dance 2019
8. Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy
9. Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
10. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

[Source: ResetEra]

Craig Majaski

Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.