Thank Activision for Record-Breaking Videogame Sales in November

Strong sales of Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 led to a record-breaking month in November for videogame sales.

“This November marks the best November on record for sales of new physical content,” said NPD Group’s Anita Frazier.

Activision said within the first five days of sales, Call of Duty shattered all previous entertainment records, grossing more than $775 million. In fact, its first month of sales beat the game’s predecessor by about 7 percent, NPD added.

In NPD’s report released today, it analyzed videogame sales for November, taking into account sales made at retail across both hardware and software. It excludes the sale of digital content, like mobile games and downloadable content.

In November, NPD said software sales totaled $1.7 billion, jumping 15 percent from $1.45 billion in the same month last year. Hardware sales weren’t so lucky, falling 9 percent to $982 million from $1.1 billion in November 2010.

The second-most popular title during the month was Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Xbox, PlayStation and the PC. “In one month, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 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,” Frazier said.

The rest of the titles in the top 10 are:

  • Battlefield 3, Electronic Arts
  • Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Ubisoft
  • Just Dance, Ubisoft
  • Madden NFL 12, Electronic Arts
  • Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Sony
  • Saints Row: The Third, THQ
  • The Legend of Zelda: SkywardSword, Nintendo
  • Batman: Arkham City, Warner Bros. Interactive

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Nobody was excited about paying top dollar for a movie about WikiLeaks. A film about the origins of Pets.com would have done better.

— Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com comments on the dreadful opening weekend box office numbers for “The Fifth Estate.”