Switch Sold 1.13 Million Units in the US in November, Forza Horizon 5 Sets Franchise Record - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 13 December 2021 / 8,623 Views
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the US in November 2021 in terms of unit sales and dollars, according to figures from NPD. NPD includes the dates for the four week period of October 31 through November 27.
Nintendo did reveal the Switch sold 1.13 million units in November, with nearly 550,000 units sold during Black Friday week.
The Xbox Series X|S was the second best-selling console, while PS5 came in third. The two consoles combined barely sold what the Switch did.
"With a wide-ranging library of games and three options to choose from between Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite and Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, the Nintendo Switch family of systems offers something for everyone this holiday season," said Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser.
"As we head into 2022 and the sixth year of Nintendo Switch, the system continues to see strong demand. We look forward to even more people adding Nintendo Switch to their households!"
The PlayStation 5 had been the best-selling hardware platform in 2021 in terms of dollars, however, the Switch has now surpassed it. The Switch is the best-selling console in 2021 to date in terms of both units and dollars.
"Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars for both November 2021 as well as 2021 year-to-date," said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella.
Overall spending on video games decreased 10 percent year-over-year from $6.96 billion to $6.28 billion. Year-to-date spending increased nine percent compared to 2020 from $48.49 billion to $52.94 billion.
"November 2021 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 10% when compared to a year ago, to $6.3 billion," said Piscatella. "YTD consumer spending totaled $52.9 billion, an increase of 9% when compared to the same period in 2020."
He added, "Hardware dollar sales fell 38% compared to a year ago, leading the market to an overall 10% decline [year-on-year]. All categories of spending decreased when compared to November 2020."
Overall spending on hardware decreased 38 percent year-on-year to from $1,424 million to $883 million. Year-to-date spending on hardware has increased 20 percent compared to 2020 from $3.97 billion to $4.76 billion.
"October video game hardware dollar sales increased 82% when compared to October 2020, to $472 million," said Piscatella. "Year-to-date hardware spending has increased 53% when compared to the same period a year ago, reaching $3.9 billion."
Spending on video game content in November 2021 is down one percent year-over-year from $5.21 billion to $5.14 billion. Year-to-date spending on content has increased eight percent from $42.44 billion to $46.00 billion.
Spending on video game accessories is down 20 percent in November 2021 to $258 million, while year-to-date spending is up four percent to $2.18 billion. November 2021 steering wheel dollar sales more than doubled compared to last year due to the launch of Forza Horizon 5. Logitech G920 Driving Force Racing Wheel for Xbox and PC was the best-selling racing wheel.
"November 2021 dollar sales of Steering Wheel accessories more than doubled year ago levels. The Logitech G920 Driving Force Racing Wheel for Xbox and PC was the month's best-selling Steering Wheel," said Piscatella.
Call of Duty: Vanguard was the best-selling game in the US in November 2021 on the overall charts, PlayStation charts, and Xbox charts. It is the second best-selling game on 2021. It is the 14th straight year Call of Duty has debuted in number one.
"Call of Duty: Vanguard debuted as November's best-selling game, instantly becoming the 2nd best-selling game of 2021 to date," said Piscatella. "This is the 14th consecutive year a Call of Duty game has ranked as the best-selling game of its release month."
Battlefield 2042 debuted in second place on the overall charts, PlayStation and Xbox Charts. It is the sixth best-selling game of the year.
"Battlefield 2042 launched as the #2 best-selling game of November, ranking as the 6th best-selling game year to date," said Piscatella. "Battlefield 2042 was the 2nd best-selling game of November on both PlayStation and Xbox platforms."
Forza Horizon 5 debuted in fourth on the overall charts and was the third best-selling game on Xbox. It also set a launch month sales record for the Forza franchise.
"Forza Horizon 5 set a new Forza franchise launch month sales record (including both Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport titles) while ranking as the 4th best selling game of November 2021," said Piscatella. "Forza Horizon 5 was the #3 best-selling game on Xbox platforms in the month."
Shin Megami Tensei V debuted in 16th on the overall charts, while it debuted in sixth on the Nintendo charts. It also set a record for the best launch month for the series in terms of dollar sales.
"Shin Megami Tensei V achieved the highest launch month dollar sales of any Shin Megami Tensei title in history," said Piscatella. "Shin Megami Tensei V ranked as the 16th best-selling game of November 2021 while also ranking 6th on Nintendo platforms."
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for November 2021:
Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games for November 2021:
Top 10 best-selling PlayStation games for November 2021:
Top 10 best-selling Xbox games for November 2021:
Here are the top 10 best-selling games of 2021 to date:
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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That’s a really nice accomplishment for Forza, especially since it launched on gamepass. Last I checked on the public leaderboard in game, Forza Horizon 5 has passed 12.5 million players globally, meaning it has already reached half of Forza Horizon 4’s playerbase in 1 month.
I wonder if/where halo infinite will chart in December. One interesting wrinkle for that game is that Steam considers Halo Infinite paid DLC to the free multiplayer. Not sure that will make a difference though
I've got to admit, those sales for Forza Horizon 5 are much stronger than I would have predicted! I got the first one through Games with Gold and fell in love with it, and subsequently bought FH2, 3, 4, and FH2 Presents Fast And Furious. I consider myself a big fan of the series. I didn't buy FH5, though, I'm perfectly content with the standard edition via Game Pass. So that many people buying it, wow. Impressive stuff.
I'm really curious how much of an impact a game like Starfield in 2022 will have on Xbox sales. At the moment, Xbox's holiday 2022 is looking weaker than 2021's, but Starfield being from Bethesda Game Studios, would be a massive system seller!
2022 is going to be a great year in gaming all around! It's awesome to see the big 3 all at the top of their software game.
I don’t think software is going to have a meaningful impact on hardware sales for any console until supply improves. Xbox sold what they made, as did PlayStation and Nintendo
True, but the tail end of 2022 is when the chip shortage is expected to subside. That could change though lol. Phil several months ago brought up that they were stockpiling Xbox's for the holiday season, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same tactic holiday 2022 with a somewhat bigger amount of hardware available by that time.
You know they want to go all out for Starfield's release. That game was the biggest reason, so far other than Bethesda's past games on Game Pass, for that $7.5 billion deal.
If the chip shortage subsides in late 2022, that would be chips shipped to factories, not to consumers. Those chips still need to go into products that get assembled, and then transported around the world. So that won't help much with holiday 2022 demand. It may mean that things will be more plentiful by spring-summer 2023, though.
I suspect you're absolutely right about PS5 and Series X for 2022. With regard to Series S, though it took 12-13 months from launch, it looks like Series S finally is no longer supply constrained in any market (with North America being the final market for supply to catch up to demand for Series S). That means we'll:
A) probably expect some additional promotions on Series S beyond the current bundle, and
B) software will have an impact on Xbox sales relative to its ability to help move Series S units.
Another adjustment? Now you show 602k switch sold in North America for black Friday's week. But is reported it sold 550k in US that week... So it jus sold 52k between Mexico and Canada according your numbers. It sounds strange
Did Metroid Dread fall off a cliff?
also remember that Metroid in itself.... isn't THAT big a franchise in popularity.
That's why that is a pretty good result.
