November Is Anybody’s Game
If you want to know top hardware and software sales, you look at the NPD. As one of the leading resources of statistics, they give the rundown on which consoles sell the best every month. November is a special month, thanks to Black Friday and the fact many more software titles released since October. It looks like the month can go to Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo.
NPD analyst Mat Piscatella recently took to the Resetera forums and gave insight on the direction of game sales. According to him, the demand for Switch, PS4, and Xbox One X makes the month of November anyone’s game. “It could easily be any of the three,” he said. He also believes Microsoft is going to sell over 600,000 Xbox One X consoles this year. Why? Simply because he believes more than 600,000 will be manufactured. In other words, the 4K console will sell as fast as it can be made.
But what really makes November unique is the special sales. There’s been a constant demand for Nintendo Switch since its release. The fact is counterweighted by Sony and Microsoft’s Black Friday deals that Piscatella calls “Phenomenal.” He didn’t mention Nintendo because they don’t share digital sales figures with the NPD. You can be sure, however, that if Mario and pals outsell the competition then they’ll let everyone know.
“Yeah I keep trying to think of ways of how I can write the notes that emphasizes everyone doing well (which is my current assumption, but who knows),” said Piscatella. “If all 3 consoles have spectacular months, from a market perspective does it really matter which one sells a few units more than the others? No, but if I don’t note the leader then everyone loses their minds.”
Piscatella then shared a few words on the”narrative” that GameStop is biased in the console war. The gaming retailer has previously commented Xbox One X and Nintendo Switch sales, praising their performance.
“Why do you keep using the term ‘narrative?’
“Switch and One X are the new boxes this year, so Switch will be up huge compared to Wii U last year, and Xbox One should be up pretty big year on year because of One X. PS4 could end up being the best selling platform, but spend might not even be up when compared to last year.”
Do you think any particular console will hold a significant lead in November game sales? Comment down below.