New Need For Speed Sells 417K At U.S. Retail In November

NPD Group recently limited the amount of U.S. retail sales data it makes public, but on Friday an analyst revealed monthly sales of one of November's biggest games. Electronic Arts' and Criterion's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit sold 417,000 units at U.S. retail in November, the game's debut month, Cowen analyst Doug Creutz said in a Friday post-NPD research note. The game, released on November 16 in the U.S., is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and PC. NPD's monthly retail numbers don't include sales from PC downloads. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was ranked number seven on NPD's sales charts for November, outselling Sony's racing juggernaut Gran Turismo 5, which launched about a week later. The last major Need for Speed console game was September 2009's Need for Speed: Shift, a more realistic racer developed by Slightly Mad Studios in conjunction with Black Box. That game was a commercial hit, as EA said in November the title sold-through "close to 5 million" copies worldwide. The next Need for Speed is titled simply Shift 2: Unleashed, and is developed by Slightly Mad, slated to launch in spring next year.