The big story of the NPD coming out of November, 2017 is that Sony dominated with the PS4, PS4 Pro and PlayStation VR headset. Sony reportedly moved more than 1.4 million SKUs throughout the month, while Microsoft trailed with more than 1 million Xbox One units across the Xbox One, Xbox One S and Xbox One X, and Nintendo came in last with over three quarters of a million units.
According to VentureBeat, Microsoft made the most revenue in units sold, while Sony sold the most units. This is because Sony marked down the PS4 to $199 to undercut the Nintendo Switch, and it helped them move massive amounts of product.
According to NPD analyst Mat Piscatella, this was the best month-to-date for PS4 sales, saying…
“More units of PlayStation 4 hardware sold in November 2017 than any other month life-to-date,” […] “PlayStation 4 is the best-selling video game hardware platform year-to-date.”
Additionally, Piscatella explained that Nintendo was not left out in the cold. In fact, it was Nintendo and their accessories that actually helped push the total hardware revenue way above what was moved during November of last year, saying…
“Year to date, hardware spending has grown 28 percent versus 2016 to $3.4 billion. Consumer spending on Nintendo Switch [and] plug-‘n’-play devices like the Super Nintendo Classic and the PlayStation 4 continue to fuel growth.”
It was pretty obvious that Sony marking down the PS4 to such a low price helped them garner a strong foothold in the sales department when it came to capturing the all-important Black Friday sales window. This is despite the fact that the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling device during Black Friday.
According to DualShockers, the top 20 game sales for the month of November were disappointing if you were hoping for a pretty big fail for Star Wars: Battlefront II. It was already reported that Call of Duty: WWII sold 4.4 million SKUs at retail, but Star Wars: Battlefront II only moved 882,000 units during the month of November. Even with such abysmal numbers on record, it was still the second best-selling game at retail in November. You can check out the full chart below.
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
- NBA 2K18
- Madden NFL 18
- Super Mario Odyssey
- FIFA 18
- Need For Speed: Payback
- Destiny 2
- Pokemon: Ultra Sun
- Pokemon: Ultra Moon
- Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
- Grand Theft Auto V
- The Sims 4
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Mario Kart 8
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole
- WWE 2K18
- Just Dance 2018
For some of the games that have digital counterparts, those sales were not counted.
Even still, it must be disappointing to see that despite all the anger and protests over the premium loot boxes that EA planned to use as a form of getting kids hooked on gambling, Star Wars: Battlefront II still sold enough to make the second top spot on the charts.
Hopefully gamers can stick to their guns and avoid putting more money into EA’s coffers for the month of December. NPD analyst Mat Piscatella does believe that Call of Duty: WWII will still take the top spot for December as well.