NPD: $2.63 billion US sales in November

US game industry sales hit USD 2.63 billion in November, up 52 per cent, according to data released today by the NPD Group.

Software sales accounted for USD 1.3 billion of the total, with USD 1.1 billion attributed to hardware sales. Both were up significantly - 62 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.

According to the NPD, the US videogame industry stands at USD 13.12 billion for the year to date.

During November, Nintendo sold 981,000 Wii consoles, Microsoft sold 770,000 Xbox 360 consoles, and Sony sold 466,000 consoles. The Nintendo DS handheld, however, outsold all of the consoles with 1.53 million sold in November. Both the PSP and the PS2 outsold the PS3, with 567,000 and 496,000 units respectively.

"The Wii had its best-selling month yet, besting last December by 60 per cent... [T]he NDS and Xbox 360 both realized their second best sales months yet, after December of last year," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

"The combination of the price cut and seasonal lift gave the PS3 the biggest October to November sales increase of any hardware platform."

Activision had a very good month, selling 1.57 million copies of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, edging out Super Mario Galaxy for the top software sales spot. The PS3 version of Call of Duty 4 also made the charts, at number seven, along with the PS2 and Wii versions of Guitar Hero III: Legend of Rock, giving Activision four games in the top ten.

Assassin's Creed, a new entry, reached the third spot with the Xbox 360 version and the tenth spot with the PS3 version. Mass Effect, another recent release, entered the chart at number six.

Halo 3, which topped the charts in both September and October, dropped to ninth place.

The Top Ten list of US console software sales for the month of November is as follows:

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360)
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
3. Assassin's Creed (360)
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2)
5. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii)
6. Mass Effect (360)
7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii)
9. Halo 3 (360)
10. Assassin's Creed (PS3)