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November 2015 NPD: PlayStation 4 Leads Console Sales, Black Ops III Tops Games
The November 2015 NPD report is in, and with PlayStaton 4 back on top after last month. The industry grew, and current-generation hardware continues to speed ahead of last-gen console sales performance.
Sony took the opportunity to reiterate its sell-through of 30.2 million consoles, also indicating that November 2015 was the strongest month ever for the PlayStation Store. NPD says that Sony’s performance was part of a larger push, as Microsoft also had its best month for Xbox One. This makes November 2015 the best month on record for current-generation sales, besting December 2014 (the former record-holder). The total segment (hardware, software, and accessories) grew by two percent over last November.
It’s not all good news, especially if you are holding off on upgrading. Last-generation software sales nose-dived by 76 percent in terms of revenue. Current-generation hardware sales represented 93 percent of the total. It appears that software will reasonably wind down for last-generation consoles significantly in the new year.
Black Ops III took the month, despite an impressive push from Fallout 4. Interestingly, despite the new relationship between Activision and Sony, more Xbox One copies were sold at U.S. Retail.
Activision notes that it held the top spot by a “wide-margin” when considering both revenue and units sold through. Further, according to NPD, Black Ops III was the largest release in terms of retail sales of any game in North America dating back to 2013. For a series that appeared to be starting its decline, this is good news for Activision.
Star Wars: Battlefront is already making the most of the license, with growth anticipated through the holiday as The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18. Rise of the Tomb Raider is a notable absence, though Halo 5: Guardians continues to hang onto a top 10 spot.
Microsoft issued a statement saying that first-party software sales are up 72 percent year-over-year for fall rush (August through November). Here’s the full list of best-selling software at retail:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
- Fallout 4 (PS4, XBO, PC)
- Star Wars Battlefront 2015 (PS4, XBO, PC)
- Madden NFL 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
- NBA 2K16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
- FIFA 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
- Need For Speed 2015 (PS4, XBO)
- Halo 5: Guardians (XBO)
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (PS4, XBO, PC)
- Just Dance 2016 (Wii, NWU, 360, XBO, PS4, PS3)
As a reminder, NPD represents retail sales in the United States. Digital and bundled software sales are not included.
Our Take
There’s a lot to break down here. First, even with Sony on top of the hardware heap, it’s good news for all platform holders. Video game sales were big on Black Friday, even more so than last year. Activision has every reason to be excited about Black Ops III’s performance, especially after its recent investment in the Call of Duty World League.
It appeared that the annual series might be starting to lose its luster, but leave it to Treyarch to reinvigorate the franchise. As for EA, Star Wars Battlefront’s performance has been questionable thus far, but there’s good news. We knew it was the best-selling Star Wars launch (first month sales) of all time, but it beat out Star Wars: The Force Unleashed by a wide margin of 21 percent.
While it appears that the hardware rankings have solidified worldwide, the death of consoles was drastically overstated. Hardware continues to outpace last generation sales, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 combining to outpace their predecessors by 47 percent at the 25-month point.
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