U.S. November Game Sales Decrease Confirmed

After announcing that the initial results for November may have been 'overstated', retail information group NPD have re-issued details of November U.S. console hardware and software sales. The company’s initial statement suggested total console software revenue of $818 million for the month, but this has been revised downwards to $696 million. The newly confirmed results are down a disappointing 18 percent compared to November 2004, with the launch of the Xbox 360 failing to compensate for the lack of major releases such as Halo 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at the same time last year. Overall these new results make for a less serious three percent fall year-over-year. Overall console hardware sales were down a massive 44 percent from the same time last year, although the Xbox 360 console made an impressive debut with 326,000 units sold. A precise tie ratio for software to hardware sales has not been give but appears to be almost 4:1, suggesting that the $10 price rise for games on the system has not prevented multiple purchases by new console owners. Call Of Duty 2 was reportedly the best-selling title for the next-gen console. The Game Boy Advance came out on top of hardware sales, with approximately 690,000 units sold, well ahead of the backwards compatible Nintendo DS with approximately 370,000 units. The PlayStation 2 sold 531,000 units, followed by the GameCube with 272,000 and the Xbox with 197,000 units. In terms of software the best selling release of the month was the Xbox version of LucasArts’ Star Wars: Battlefront II, followed by the PlayStation 2 version at number two. Activision's Call of Duty 2 was the highest ranked Xbox 360 title in the all formats charts at number three, with the PlayStation 2 version of Madden NFL 06 still at number four. THQ's PlayStation 2 exclusive WWE SmackDown! Vs. Raw 2006 was at number five, with the Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL 06 at number six. PSP title Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories entered at number seven, suggesting strong sales for the PSP even if exact numbers are not known. The PlayStation 2 version of Activision's Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland was at number eight, GameCube exclusive Mario Party 7 at number nine and Mario Kart DS at number ten. The third highest ranking Xbox 360 title was Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed: Most Wanted at number thirteen, with Perfect Dark Zero forced into fourth place with an entry at number twenty-one in the all formats chart.