Advertisement

November NPD: Black Ops 2 reigns in Black Friday month, Halo 4 follows

Jordan Mallory
Contributing Editor
Updated ·2 min read
0

November was yet another month in which the physical retail video game industry brought in less cash than it did in 2011. Specifically, total sales for the month were down 11 percent: $2.55 billion this year, as compared with $2.87 billion during the same period last year. It's worth noting, however, that what the NPD Group considers "November" is actually October 28 through November 24, which means that sales from the Sunday and Monday following Black Friday did not contribute.

When broken down into individual figures for hardware, software and accessories, the song remains much the same as it has been all year. Hardware sales pulled down $838.9 million dollars this November, which is 13 percent less than the $962.2 million from last year.

As has become the routine, Microsoft holds top honors as far as console sales are concerned, with consumers purchasing 1.26 million Xbox 360s over the course of November and 750,000 during Black Friday week alone. Meanwhile, Nintendo's Wii U sold 450,000 units during the seven days it was available on NPD's watch, with Wii sales trailing slightly behind at 420,000 units. 3DS sales piled up to 540,000 units, while 370,000 DS handhelds of varying type were also sold in November.

The accessories segment has broken its streak as the only portion of the physical retail industry to perform better than its 2011 self, reporting a grand total of $280.9 million in sales for last month, which is a year-over-year decrease of eight percent. Despite the drop, Skylanders figure sales were up 250 percent.

Software sales mirrored the overall industry's percentage drop, taking an 11 percent dive down to just $1.46 billion dollars, as opposed to the $1.65 billion it earned last year. Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Halo 4 and Assassin's Creed 3 lead the charge on the list of November's top 10 best-selling games, which as always can be found after the break.


  1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)

  2. Halo 4 (360)

  3. Assassin's Creed 3 (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)*

  4. Just Dance 4 (Wii, 360, Wii U, PS3)

  5. Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, Wii U)

  6. Skylanders Giants (Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS, Wii U)

  7. Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 (PS3, 360, PSV, PC)

  8. NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, Wii U, PC)

  9. WWE 13 (360, PS3, Wii)

  10. FIFA Soccer 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, 3DS, Wii U, PSP)