Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
November U.S. Sales Show Call Of Duty Rocketing Past All Competition
November is generally the biggest month of the year for the gaming industry and this year's sales grew over last, with Call of Duty: WWII leading the charge in a commanding way.
The PlayStation 4 sold the most units last month, likely due to the $199 Black Friday pricing. Microsoft took the lead in terms of revenue of consoles sold due to the more expensive Xbox One selling quite well on its own. Nintendo's Switch sold somewhere around a million units, but had no bundles or sale prices of any kind.
In terms of software, Call of Duty: WWII is far and away the best selling game of November. It reverses a downward trend that Activision's major series has been seeing over the last few releases. It so strongly reverses the trend that Call of Duty: WWII is the best selling game of the entire year from this single month of sales so far.
Call of Duty: WWII is also the best selling game of the 12-month time span that includes the previous November.
“According to NPD, based on revenues Call of Duty: WWII is the #1 top selling console video game in North America this year, making Call of Duty the #1 top selling console video game franchise in North America for the 9th year in a row,” says Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg. “As proud as we are of Call of Duty: WWII, we’re equally proud that our talented teams have found ways to keep Call of Duty fresh, relevant and on top of the charts for nearly a decade—an amazing feat. Thanks to the greatest fans in the world for their passion and engagement with this awesome franchise.”
Star Wars: Battlefront II also did well despite the controversies surrounding the game, but analysts believe it did quite a bit worse than the first month debut of the last Star Wars: Battlefront game.
Here is the top twenty of all platforms combined.
| Call of Duty: WWII | 1 | Activision Blizzard | |
| Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017 | 2 | Electronic Arts | |
| Assassin's Creed: Origins | 3 | Ubisoft | |
| NBA 2K18 | 4 | Take 2 Interactive | |
| Madden NFL 18 | 5 | Electronic Arts | |
| Super Mario Odyssey** | 6 | Nintendo | |
| FIFA 18 | 7 | Electronic Arts | |
| Need for Speed: Payback | 8 | Electronic Arts | |
| Destiny 2 | 9 | Activision Blizzard | |
| Pokemon: Ultra Sun** | 10 | Nintendo | |
| Pokemon: Ultra Moon** | 11 | Nintendo | |
| Middle Earth: Shadow of War | 12 | Warner Bros. Interactive | |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 13 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) | |
| The Sims 4 | 14 | Electronic Arts | |
| The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild** | 15 | Nintendo | |
| Mario Kart 8** | 16 | Nintendo | |
| Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus** | 17 | Bethesda Softworks | |
| South Park: The Fractured But Whole | 18 | Ubisoft | |
| WWE 2K18 | 19 | Take 2 Interactive | |
| Just Dance 2018 | 20 | Ubisoft |
Items denoted with a ** do not have digital sales counted by the NPD.
Sonic Forces, Sega's first multiplatform 3D Sonic since Sonic Generations in 2011, only charted on the Nintendo Switch top ten, just ahead of Bethesda's port of Doom.
Our Take
The sales of Call of Duty are actually really crazy. These numbers represent Call of Duty as Activision's biggest title and show the power of the brand. It also seems like Nintendo would have benefited from having a $300 bundle with a game, though the numbers are not anything to sneeze at.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
