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November NPD: Xbox One leads consoles, Call of Duty tops software

Xav de Matos
Updated ·2 min read
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Overall retail sales for new hardware, software and accessories saw an 11 percent drop in November 2014, versus the same reported period last year. For most of 2014, software sale declines have offset year-over-year hardware spending, however, this November, "hardware declines totaled $294 million while software declined $17 million or 2 percent," NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan said.

The majority of the hardware sales decline stems from the expected slow down of Xbox 360/PS3/Wii console sales (seventh) generation). Eight generation consoles sales also saw a drop and represented 38 percent of the total declines for the month versus last year, Callahan added. This drop may not be unexpected, however, as November 2013 saw the introduction of the PS4 and Xbox One consoles after long campaigns marketing their release.

"Despite a decline in dollar sales, hardware unit sales for eighth generation consoles increased by 3 percent over November 2013," Callahan said.

In a statement sent to IGN, Mike Nichols, Xbox Marketing's Corporate Vice President, claimed "November set a new record for sales of Xbox One, and Xbox One was the best-selling console in the US and UK." Holiday pricing as well as special bundles and Black Friday sales, certainly contributed to the console's success.

In software, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and the PS4/XB1 version of Grand Theft Auto 5 dominated new physical retail sales for November. Super Smash Bros. came in at third in a month that saw its console version finally hit retail. Nintendo says that, to date, Super Smash Bros. Wii U has "sold nearly 710,000 combined units since launching on Nov. 21." Combining both physical and retail sales, the 3DS version of Smash Bros. has sold over 1.5 million copies in the US since launching in October, Nintendo added.

  1. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)

  2. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)

  3. Super Smash Bros. (NWU, 3DS)

  4. Madden NFL 15 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3)

  5. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire (3DS)

  6. Far Cry 4 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC)

  7. Pokemon Omega Ruby (3DS)

  8. NBA 2K15 (PS4, 360, XBO, PS3, PC)

  9. Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4, XBO, PC)

  10. Halo: The Master Chief Collection (XBO)


[Image: Activision]