Call of Duty couldn't stop video game sales dipping in November | UK Monthly Charts

gamesindustry.biz:

Over 4.55 million video games were sold during November in the UK, a drop of 3% over the same period in 2022.

This is according to GSD data, which tracks digital and physical video game sales.

The drop is due to a weaker release slate in November this year. Last year saw major launches including God of War Ragnarök on PlayStation platforms and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for Nintendo Switch.

There was one major title that helped keep sales strong, and that was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Activision Blizzard's shooter was comfortably No.1 for the month. Last year's Call of Duty released in October, which meant that Call of Duty had a stronger November this year than the year before.

However, despite efforts from Activision to position Modern Warfare 3 as a full sequel to last year's game, fans were not so convinced and first three weeks of sales for Modern Warfare 3 are just under 38% lower compared with last year's Modern Warfare 2.

Another decent release last month was the arrival of Hogwarts Legacy on Nintendo Switch. Sales of the Warner Bros game jumped 100% month-on-month due to Switch release (plus a bit of Black Friday discounting).

EA Sports FC 23 sold slightly fewer in November compared with FIFA 23 last year, but it was close. EA's new football title saw some strong discounts during the Back Friday sales period.

It was another big month for game sales over the Black Friday week, with 1.66 million games sold in the UK, led by EA Sports FC 24. Compared with Black Friday last year, sales are very slightly up by 0.8%, which is impressive when you consider the general lack of new releases.

Elsewhere, Football Manager 2024 makes No.6, with sales down 4% compared with last year's title. The only other new