Despite overwhelming criticism against its campaign length, not to mention reports of rushed development, Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 topped US sales charts for November 2023, per Circana. Not only is it the fifth year that a Call of Duty title has topped US charts in November, but analyst Mat Piscatella also revealed that it’s now the second best-selling game of 2023 year-to-date.
Call of Duty HQ also ranked second in monthly active users on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, which makes sense since it’s necessary for launching Modern Warfare 3. Hogwarts Legacy is still the top-selling game of the year-to-date, ranking third in dollar sales thanks to the launch of the Nintendo Switch version. The latter was also the second best-selling title on the platform for November.
Video game content spending amounted to $4.6 billion in November, a three percent drop year over year. Piscatella notes that “comparable strength” of releases is the reason, with last year seeing the launch of God of War: Ragnarok (which has sold over 15 million units to date) and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (23.23 million copies sold as of September 2023).
November 2023 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/sskPh7JoGh
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023
YTD ending November 2023 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/XKp7H0JStA
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023
November video game content spending dropped 3% when compared to a year ago, to $4.6 billion. An 11% decline in Console & Portable Content spending was partially offset by 3% growth across each of the Mobile, Subscription, and ‘PC, Cloud & Non-Console VR’ Content segments.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023
A primary driver of the year-on-year decline in Console & Portable Content was the comparable strength of the new release slate. November 2022 featured the launches of both God of War: Ragnarök and Pokémon: Scarlet/Violet.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III was the best-selling game of November, instantly becoming the 2nd best-selling game of 2023 year-to-date. It is the 5th consecutive year that a Call of Duty title was November’s best-seller (Red Dead Redemption II ranked 1st in Nov 2018).
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023
According to Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, Call of Duty HQ (which includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III player activity) ranked 2nd in monthly active users across both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles during the month of November, trailing only Fortnite.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023
Hogwarts Legacy ranked 3rd in November full game dollar sales, driven by the launch of the Nintendo Switch version of the game. Hogwarts Legacy ranked as the #2 best-selling title on Nintendo Switch during November. Hogwarts Legacy remains the best-selling game of 2023 YTD.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023
