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November NPD: PlayStation 4 overtakes Xbox One and there's no stopping Call of Duty

Even with months of anticipation, an aggressive marketing campaign, and word of mouth, there's just no stopping Call of Duty, as Black Ops 3 holds off Fallout 4 to take the top spot on the retail charts.

Ozzie Mejia

December 10, 2015 4:05 PM

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It was hyped everywhere. You couldn't turn a corner without seeing something related to Fallout 4. It was on billboards, it was Conan, it was even on limited-edition soda bottles. Despite all of that, Fallout 4 still couldn't topple the monolithic beast that is Call of Duty.

Before getting to software in more detail, it was a good month for next-gen consoles. PlayStation 4 emerged the victor, but it was a good month for all console hardware makers. Retail hardware sales were up 11 percent from last year, much of that due to the heavily discounted bundles that were available over the Thanksgiving holiday. The NPD Group's Liam Callahan notes that November 2015 was the best month of sales ever for the PS4, Xbox One, and even the Wii U.

As for software, there does not seem to be any stopping Call of Duty. Not only did it emerge on top of the software charts for November, it even managed to surpass opening sales of last year's Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. As for Fallout 4, it sold the most of any game in franchise history, with Callahan comparing its sales to that of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Meanwhile, Star Wars Battlefront took a third-place finish and has the distinction of having the highest-selling first month for a Star Wars game ever, eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed by 21 percent. One major sales disappointment was Rise of the Tomb Raider, with the Xbox One-exclusive missing the Top 10 by a wide margin.

November Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC; new releases in bold)

• Call of Duty: Black Ops III (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
• Fallout 4 (PS4, XBO, PC)
• Star Wars Battlefront 2015 (PS4, XBO, PC)
• Madden NFL 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
• NBA 2K16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
• FIFA 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
• Need For Speed 2015 (PS4, XBO)
• Halo 5: Guardians (XBO)
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (PS4, XBO, PC)
• Just Dance 2016 (Wii, NWU, 360, XBO, PS4, PS3)

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?