The NPD Group has released their full North American sales data for November 2020, and it was certainly an interesting month for the industry! Of course, November is the top month of any year, but this time around we also had the release of the new Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Unsurprisingly, numbers were way up year-on-year with players spending $7 billion on games, additional content, and hardware. That’s up 35 percent compared to November 2019.

　　On the hardware front, the new PlayStation 5 was the top console of the month in terms of total revenue generated, but the Switch beat it out in terms of total units sold. That means the Switch has been the top dog in terms of total units sold for a record-setting 24 straight months. No specific word from NPD on what that Xbox Series X/S sold, but it’s obviously in third place behind the Switch and PS5.

　　Moving onto software, big franchises dominated the chart, with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War debuting at #1 and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla coming in at #2. We also saw some new console exclusives hit the chart, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales at #3, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity at #6, and Demon’s Souls at #10. That Demon’s Souls debut may seem kind of low, but let's remember, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is available on both PS5 and PS4, while Demon’s Souls is a PS5 exclusive. A bit of a reminder of why Sony is sticking to crossgen releases for a lot of its titles for now.

　　Here are November’s top 20 games according to NPD:

　　Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarAssassin’s Creed ValhallaSpider-Man: Miles MoralesMadden NFL 21NBA 2K21Hyrule Warriors: Age of CalamityWatch Dogs: LegionAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsFIFA 21Demon’s SoulsMario Kart 8: DeluxeSuper Mario 3D All-StarsJust Dance 2021New Super Mario Bros. U DeluxeLuigi’s Mansion 3Mario Kart Live: Home CircuitSuper Smash Bros. UltimateMarvel’s AvengersMortal Kombat 11Ghost of TsushimaAnd here are the top-10 best-selling games of 2020 so far (yes, CoD: Black Ops Cold War immediately jumped to the top spot):

　　Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarCall of Duty: Modern WarfareAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsMadden NFL 21The Last of Us Part IIGhost of TsushimaAssassin’s Creed: ValhallaFinal Fantasy VII RemakeMarvel’s AvengersSuper Mario 3D All-StarsWell, there you go, all the fallout from the biggest gaming month of the year! It will be interesting to see what happens from here – will Switch be able to continue winning? Or will the PS5 overtake it as more stock becomes available? We’ll just have to wait and see!