PS5 Best-Seller in the US in November, Switch Outsells Lifetime PS2 Sales - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 18 December 2024 / 11,680 Views
The PlayStation 5 was once again the best-selling console in the US in November 2024 in terms of units sold and dollar sales, according to figures from Circana (formerly The NPD Group). Circana includes the dates for the four-week period of November 3 to 30.
The Nintendo Switch came in second place in terms of units sold and dollar sales, while the Xbox Series X|S came in third place in terms of units sold and dollar sales.
In terms of dollar sales, the PlayStation 5 is up 15 percent year-on-year, while the Nintendo Switch is down three percent, and the Xbox Series X|S is down 29 percent.
Lifetime sales of the Nintendo Switch have now surpassed the PlayStation 2 with 46.6 million units sold life-to-date. The Switch is now the second best-selling hardware platform of all-time in the US with it only being behind the Nintendo DS.
November saw the release of the PlayStation 5 Pro, which accounted for 19 percent of the total PlayStation 5s sold for the month and 28 percent of dollar sales. Unit sales of the PlayStation 5 Pro were 12 percent lower than the PlayStation 4 Pro, however, dollar sales were over 50 percent higher.
There was a total of 2.4 million units of hardware sold in November 2024, which is up from 2.3 million last year. This figure includes the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Arcade, and Plug-N-Play.
For 2024 year-to-date there have been 9.4 million hardware units sold through November, which is down from 11.8 million units sold in the same period in 2023.
It was revealed PlayStation VR2 sales are up year-on-year due to heavy discounts. However, the attach rate for the VR headset compared to the PlayStation 5 is still very low.
Overall spending on video games in November decreased seven percent year-on-year from $6.17 billion to $5.76 billion. Spending on video game content decreased nine percent from $4.89 billion to $4.46 billion, while video game hardware sales increased less than one percent from $924 million to $9247 million. Spending on accessories increased four percent from $358 million to $373 million.
"Projected November 2024 U.S. consumer spending on video game hardware, content and accessories fell 7% when compared to a year ago, to $5.8 billion," said Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst Mat Piscatella. "Year-to-date spending is flat to last year."
In terms of 2024 year-to-date sales through November, overall spending on video games is up less than one percent year-on-year from $51.01 billion to $51.12 billion. Spending on video game content increased two percent from $43.80 billion to $44.88 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped 24 percent from $4.90 billion to $3.74 billion. Spending on accessories increased eight percent from $2.32 billion to $2.50 billion.
"The November spending decline was driven in part by the debut of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in October this year, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) launched during the November tracking month a year ago," said Piscatella.
The Midnight Black DualSense controller was the best-selling gamepad in terms of dollar sales for November and 2024 year-to-date. the PlayStation Portal remains the best-selling accessory in terms of dollar sales for November and 2024 year-to-date.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the best-selling game in November and is the second best-selling game of 2024, trailing only EA Sports College Football 25.
EA Sports College Football 25 is now the best-selling sports video game of all-time in US history and is in the top 50 best-selling video games of all-time in the US.
There were three new releases in the top 20 this month. Mario & Luigi: Brothership debuted in seventh place, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake debuted in 12th place, and My Sims: Cozy Bundle debuted in 19th place.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl debuted outside the top 20, however, the game is available on Xbox Game Pass. The game did come in sixth place on the Circana Player Engagement Tracker monthly active user chart on the Xbox Series X|S and ninth place on Steam.
Discounts helped boost sales for several titles with Madden NFL 25 in second place, EA Sports FC 25 in third place, EA Sports College Football 25 in fourth place, NBA 2K25 in ninth place, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 in 14th place.
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for November 2024:
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in 2024 year-to-date:
Here are the top 10 games played on the PlayStation 5 ranked by monthly active users:
Here are the top 10 games played on the Xbox Series X|S ranked by monthly active users:
Here are the top 10 games played on Steam ranked by monthly active users:
Here are the top 10 best-selling premium games on PlayStation platforms in November 2024:
Here are the top 10 best-selling premium games on Xbox platforms in November 2024:
Here are the top 10 best-selling premium games on Nintendo platforms in November 2024:
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 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Data from Mat piscatella that isn't included in the article-
PS5 up 15 % year on year
Switch down 3% year on year
Xbox- down 29% year on year.
By these data points we can assume the following for US November sales:
PS5: 1,197,393
Switch: 555,878
Xbox Series: 417,202
That doesn't quite work out as the average selling price per console likely won't be the same as last year. But that is pretty close. PS5 we are gonna have ~1.21M given the data Mat provided.
Switch unit sales are likely up slightly YoY as it had more discounts than last year lowering its average selling price.
Xbox has the digital Series X which is cheaper, but also discounts weren't the best this year.
Yeah I read just read that the data was for dollar sales. So yes my assumption will be inaccurate but still relatively close.
Good to hear that Switch YoY will be up.
Thank you!
Congrats to the Switch beating the PS2. But only down 3%?! That can't be true. What was Switch's Americas November 2023?
Thanks alot, @trunkswd & @geralt99!
I've been really anticipating US and Americas November data.
And I gotta say: very impressive, very!
So many data points here. I will have to re-read this article two or three times to get all of it together.
One thing that totally stands out to me was this paragraph and following:
"In terms of 2024 year-to-date sales through November, overall spending on video games is up less than one percent year-on-year from $51.01 billion to $51.12 billion. "
Because it's, in fact, sending a message here.
That is, despite the Xbox eco-system drawing in very concerning year-on-year drops over the past 18 months, and was ONLY able to increase revenue by adding up ABK numbers for the first time, Switch and PS5 cushioned alot of that Xbox' decline.
The REAL message here is:
The console business being attached to hardware units being sold is still just working fine for EVERY party involved. Manufacturers, 1st, 2nd and 3rd parties.
Congrats to Playstation and Nintendo, very good numbers, PS5 is even up 15% year-on-year, while the Series is down 29%. And last year the Series was already down 21% year-on-year.
Very, very concerning for Xbox, but I am not suprised at the slightest.
My god the PS5 is crushing it in the US being up 15% year on year when last year saw the release of the slim model 2 months prior and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in October 2023!!
Great to see STALKER 2 charting as high as it did!
Switch hasn't beaten Xbox in dollar sales for a long time. Very impressive considering it's age
I think that honestly shows how solid the Switch has been and how discarded the Xbox Series is.
Switch has been consistent in its sales ever year with around 20% each year.
Xbox Series has been down slopping harder each year.
I think the Switch feeling the most like a "toy" out of the 3 consoles is one of the reasons why it sells so well in the holidays.
Nintendo has always got a handy bump out of holiday sales in the USA.
Nearly always seems to have games that appeal to those buying for family.
There is a similar effect in Japan for holidays more closely related to gifting to family members.
And no family buys a Playstation or Xbox? Everyone gets holiday boosts. I thought the Switch would be a good bit down in the US, instead its 3% up. I still cannot believe its true but whats sure is the fact its not down massivly as some where expecting (wishing) for.
Hey, I just came back in. I used to see a trend a lot of Nintendo getting more noticeable bumps for November and December, and PlayStation being more consistent with their sales trends throughout the year, with a smaller bump for holidays. I hope that helps explain where my opinion comes from.
Was Super Mario Bros. Wonder the big Nintendo Switch game for October/November 2023?
Very impressive that there hasn’t been a drop off in that particular market. 3% down is remarkably consistent with a successor about to be announced.
