The NPD has revealed that total industry sales in the United States last month were $1.97 billion, which is down 24% from the $2.6 billion seen in November 2015. By category, hardware was $723.8 million (down 35%), console software was $955.2 million (down 18%), PC software was $27.5 million (down 28%), and accessories was $259.8 million (down 6%).
As NPD analyst Sam Naji explained, “The year-on-year software revenue decline was driven by the strong comparison to last November?s top 3 titles,” which included Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Fallout 4, and Star Wars Battlefront. The top three this year were Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Battlefield 1, and Pokemon Sun, but Infinite Warfare sold less than Black Ops 3 and Pokemon had a lower price point. “The decline can be fully attributed to the top 3 selling games which, combined, sold 43 percent less than the top 3 games from last November,” Naji added. “Combined spending across all other titles grew 12 percent in November compared with a year ago.” Looking at hardware, Naji said, “Total hardware spending in November declined 35 percent compared to year ago as growth in portable hardware sales was offset by declines in console hardware spending, particularly on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.” Part of this drop is likely due to the cheaper price of the PS4 and Xbox One during Black Friday – which is back in effect this holiday.
We already know PS4 was the #1 sel...