It’s no secret that when a Call of Duty game is unleashed on the market, every other aspect of the industry benefits. Whether it’s hardware or software, Activision’s juggernaut spurs growth, and coupled with the high success of Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3 lead November 2011 to become the best month in the industry’s history.
In The U.S., Xbox 360 Is King
For the fourth consecutive month Microsoft’s venerable console managed to top the competition by becoming the bestselling console once more, selling a monumental 1.7 million units for the month of November, a 23 percent growth over last year, topping not only home consoles but also handhelds.
“This is the fourth consecutive month in which the Xbox 360 has been the top selling hardware system. The gap between 360 sales and sales of the next best selling platform was the largest we’ve seen since December 2008 when the Nintendo DS was the top selling system,” wrote the NPD’s Anita Frazier.
PS3, although not as hyper in sales as Xbox 360, managed the best November in the console’s five-year history. It sold 900,000 units for the month of November, a 70 percent rise over last year, with Sony noting that demand is still very strong.
“PlayStation 3 is off to a phenomenal start to the holiday season, recording the best ever Black Friday sales period in the console’s five-year history. According to the November NPD report the PS3 saw a 70% increase in hardware and a 30% increase in software year-over-year. Consumer demand has been very strong for our holiday bundles and for recent first and third party blockbuster titles such as UNCHARTED 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. We’re excited that millions of people are joining the PlayStation community and realizing its incredible entertainment value across games, movies, TV, music, and more,” said SCEA Sr. Director of Corporate Communications, Patrick Seybold.
Modern Warfare 3 Dominated November, Unsurprisingly
Modern Warfare 3 was the top dog last month besting last year’s Black Ops by 7 percent, and leading the industry to new gains, but another story of equal importance is the rise of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a game “that is just about half a million units shy of matching Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in lifetime sales. Its first month performance was a five-fold increase over Oblivion’s first month sales. The game garnered outstanding review scores,” noted Anita Frazier.
Accessories was the only sector which saw a decline compared to last year, but it’s important to mention that Kinect was released around the same time last year, and the peripheral sold 8 million units immediately, becoming the fastest selling tech device ever.
And that’s it. A great month overall for the industry.
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