November dip for US games retail

Last month saw further year-on-year declines for physical retail across the pond.

The latest report from market research firm NPD Group showed total US sales for video games cam in at $2.55bn, down 11 per cent from the $2.87bn taken in the same period last month, according to Joystiq.

However, NPD Group observes that its November report covers October 28th to November 24th and does not include sales from the Black Friday weekend, the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

Software sales suffered the same blow, down 11 per cent from $1.65bn last year to $1.46bn in November 2012. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was the top-selling game for the month, followed by Halo 4 and Assassin’s Creed III.

Hardware was hit slightly harder, dropping by 13 per cent year-on-year to $838.9m. Last year, the sector took $962.2m. Xbox 360 was the biggest sales driver.

Accessories was the only channel to actually grow year-on-year in 2012, with sales amounting to $280.9m.

The highlight here was Skylanders figures, which sold 250 per cent more units than they did in November 2011. The new game, Skylanders Giants, made it to No.6 in the Top 10 best-selling games of the month.