NPD November 2015: PS4, Big Names Dominate

Each month industry experts are given a report that details all of the consoles and software numbers sold from physical retail brick-and-mortar stores within the United States, which are then reported on by sites privileged with that sort of information. They are published from the NPD group, with this month’s numbers reporting for NPD November 2015.

Top 10 most sold physical software titles in the US, according to NPD November 2015 numbers (bracket order=most-to-least sold version):

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
2. Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
3. Star Wars: Battlefront (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
4. Madden NFL 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
5. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
6. FIFA 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
7. Need For Speed (PS4, Xbox One)
8. Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One)
9. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
10. Just Dance 2016 (Wii, Wii U, 360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)

Halo 5 remains on the list for another month, along with NBA 2K16, FIFA 16, and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a predictable frontrunner, though some may blink at its topping the greatly-hyped Fallout 4 (it likely did better if Steam sales are counted, as they are not here). Battlefront did well, apparently with the best first-month sales of any Star Wars game thus far. It’s sad not to see Rise of the Tomb Raider up here, but being a one-console title, it’s not terribly surprising. Nonetheless, Halo 5 is hanging on as an Xbox One exclusive, and there are no PS4-exclusives listed.

Nintendo’s presence is predictably terrible, with no big-name titles to shine on Black Friday. The Wii U’s only representation is Just Dance 2016, at the bottom. Xbox One dominated with Call of Duty as it tends to, though the sales numbers don’t count bundles. Otherwise, PS4 mostly sweeps the board with the large number of sports games listed.

The PlayStation 4 came in as the top-selling console, catching up after Xbox One dominated October. That doesn’t mean Xbox One is falling, as Black Friday sales were strong here as well. Microsoft recently reported that Black Friday week was one of its best ever, with Xbox One sales up 22% from last year’s Black Friday week in the US. Overall, the latest generation of consoles is quickly outpacing the previous generation, with sales of new hardware growing for all three consoles by 22% (in dollars) from last year, while sales of Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii dropped 76%. This is no surprise, of course, though given that we may be seeing the tenth console generation approach in 2016, these numbers may not continue by next Black Friday.