NPD Group released its full North American sales data for the big November holiday shopping season, which was good news for the industry. Although sales were down for most of 2022, they actually picked up year-over-year in November, largely due to PS5 oversupply. Overall, gamers spent $6.3 billion on games, add-on content, and hardware in November, up 6% year-over-year. Meanwhile, hardware is up 45 percent as the next-gen console shortage finally fades away. The PS5 was No. 1 in unit and dollar sales, followed by the Switch.
Moving on to software, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II continues to run at the top, followed by the newly released God of War Ragnarok at number two, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet at number three, and Sonic Frontiers at number four. The only other new release on the list was Tactics Ogre: Reborn at #17. Meanwhile, Spider-Man: Miles Morales jumped from #39 back into the top 10 thanks to the PC version and probably all new PS5 owners looking for a good show.
Here are the top 20 games of November according to NPD:
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
2. God of War Ragnarok
3. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
4. Sonic Frontiers
5. Madden NFL 23
6. FIFA 23
7. NBA 2K23
8. Gotham Knights
9. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
10. Mario Party stars
11. Elden Ring
12. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
13. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
14. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
15. Persona 5 Royal
16. NHL 23
17. Ogre Tactics: Reborn
18. Minecraft
19. The Forbidden Horizon West
20. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Here are the top 10 best selling games of 2022 so far:
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
2. Elden Ring
3. Madden NFL 23
4. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
5. God of War Ragnarok
6. Pokemon Legends: Arceus
7. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
8. The Forbidden Horizon West
9. FIFA 23
10. MLB The Show 22
What are your thoughts on the NPD numbers for November? Any big surprises? Anyone out there finally getting their hands on a PS5?