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Shooter Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare took the No.1 spot in the November charts, making Activision Blizzard the No.1 publisher in both units and value for the month.
Boxed unit sales were down 26 per cent compared to Black Ops III’s first month, though. And Activision’s shooter was not the only one to be affected by a decline, as the market as a whole has seen a 6.3 per cent dip in unit sales year-on-year.
According to GfK’s figures, 3.9m games were sold between October 30th and November 26th 2016, whereas 4.1m units were shifted during the same period last year. However, data was collected a little earlier in the month last year, from October 25th to November 21st 2015, and didn’t include the crucial Black Friday weekend, which makes this year’s figures look weaker still.
Over 140m was generated in revenue this November, compared to more than 163m in November 2015 – a dip of 14.4 per cent.
There are a number of theories as to why the market has seen a dip year-on-year. Numerous titles, including Infinite Warfare, Watch Dogs 2, Dishonored 2 and Titanfall 2, underperformed compared to their predecessors.
Retailers have also previously told MCV that there’s a weaker line-up of software in 2016, while the absence of PS3 and 360 titles on shelves has had a negative effect Consumers also held off spending in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, preferring to wait for the deals.
Here’s GfK’s Top 10 for November:
1.Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Activision)
2. FIFA 17 (EA)
3. Battlefield 1 (EA)
4. Watch Dogs 2 (Ubisoft)
5. Pokmon Sun (Nintendo)
6. Pokmon Moon (Nintendo)
7. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (Bethesda)
8. Forza Horizon 3 (Microsoft)
9. Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar)
10. Dishonored 2 (Bethesda)
You can read our full analysis of the monthly charts in MCV’s December 9th issue
