NPD November 2018: Red Dead Redemption 2 at the top, and Nintendo Switch is the best-selling console

November 2018 has been a big month for game releases, and this is largely reflected in the industry’s revenue during the month.

The NPD Group has published its report for video game hardware and software at US retail, including the usual digital data from participating publishers. Spending in November – for hardware, software, accessories, and game cards amounted to $2.7 billion, which is actually flat compared to last year.

This was the result of a drop in overall software spending, a gap created by Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s move to October. Hardware, and accessories posted growth, which offset this drop in software spending.

Hardware

Console hardware saw a small 3% gain over last year, up to $3.9 billion. PlayStation, and Xbox consoles were down, but the Nintendo Switch was significantly up. Nintendo’s console was ahead of all other platforms in dollar sales.

That’s not to say all three platforms didn’t perform strongly. In fact, this is the second time ever that all three sold 1 million units in November. PS4, Xbox One, and Switch each sold more than 1.3 million units.

Software

Despite a 15% decline, software sales totalled $1 billion during November. Unsurprisingly, Red Dead Redemption 2 was November’s best-selling game, and is already the second best-selling game year-to-date. In just two months, Red Dead Redemption 2 managed to exceed lifetime sales of the first game by 40%.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 came in at number two, but it’s ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2 in the cumulative sales department for 2018. Call of Duty has had this segment on lock for nine years, five of which have been consecutive. Black Ops 4 is also the second fastest-selling game on PS4, and Xbox One, below Call of Duty: WW2.

Battlefield 5 earned a respectable third spot, followed by Fallout 76. This is a decent turnout for Bethesda, as the numbers only include physical sales. Fallout 76, despite its poor reception, had the franchise’s third highest-launch sales.

Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu, and Let’s Go Eevee earned the fifth, and sixth spots, respectively. Launch month sales for the two combined are already higher than all Pokemon games, witch the exception of Pokeman Stadium.