The NPD November 2018 results are in and reveal just how momentous the holidays are for the gaming industry. All three consoles had incredible months as did games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty Black Ops 4. This all helped contribute to the biggest year for software sales since 2011.
According to industry analyst ZhugeEX, the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch all sold at least 1.3 million units in November 2018. This is the first time ever that three console platforms have each moved over a million systems each. The PS4 sold more hardware but the Switch led in dollar sales. Hardware spending for the year has increased 14 percent over last year to $3.39 billion and has gone up three percent over last November. This, sadly, does not include the Soulja Boy console.
The biggest year in software sales has partly to do with the amount of big fall games. Red Dead Redemption 2 led the pack as the best-selling game in its second month and is currently the second best-selling game of the year. It has already eclipsed the sales of its predecessor by around 40 percent.
Black Ops 4 also sold well but was the inverse of the cowboy epic: it was the second best-selling game of the month and is overall best-selling game of the year. It’s the second fastest-selling game on the PS4 and Xbox One behind only Call of Duty: WWII. Call of Duty games are almost always successful in November, as the series has always had the best-selling game from January to November nine out of the last 10 years. It’s unclear which entry was the one that wasn’t the best-selling game of the year.
But not all titles were success stories. Fallout 76 failed to top Fallout 4 and New Vegas‘ launch months. This could be contributed to its constant controversies and poor reception. However, it was the fourth best-selling game of the month.
Some franchises were even competing with each other in the same month. Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee came in at number five and six, respectively, showing that people prefer Pikachu just a bit more. NPD doesn’t account for digital sales for any platform but Nintendo stated that these titles sold 2 million in the U.S.
The Spyro: Reignited Trilogy finished in the ninth spot in a busy month, which is impressive, but more noteworthy when taken into context of the whole series. It had more than 30 percent more launch month dollar sales than all of the non-Skylanders games combined.
The full top 20 NPD list is listed below.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
3. Battlefield 5
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
15. WWE 2K19
16. God of War 2018
17. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
18. Just Dance 2019
19. Grand Theft Auto 5
20. Forza Horizon 4
