November 2019 NPD sees Pokémon Sword as the best-selling game on Nintendo Switch

Pokemon Sword and Shield
Pokemon Sword and Shield (Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

What you need to know

  • The November 2019 NPD data has been released
  • For this month, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare took the top spot overall.
  • The Nintendo Switch was the bestselling console overall.
  • You can grab Pokémon Sword for Nintendo Switch for $57 on Amazon

Every month, the NPD Group releases information on the top-selling games across all video game platforms in the United States. While it doesn't account for worldwide sales, it does provide a good snapshot of one the largest video game markets. Mat Piscatella, an analyst for NPD, has shared the results for November 2019. For this month, data was tracked from November 3 through November 30, 2019.

For November, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare held on to the top spot of the charts, while Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order debuted at #2 and is instantly the ninth best-selling game of 2019. Pokémon took up three of the top five spots, while timed PlayStation 4 console exclusive Death Stranding debuted at #7 overall.

Here are the numbers for the November 2019 NPD results:

  • Total: $2.251 billion, down 19% year-over-year from $2.783 billion
  • Video games hardware: $891 million, down 26% year-over-year from $1.206 billion
  • PC and video games software: $926 million, down 17% year-over-year from $1.071 billion
  • Accessories and game cards: $403 million, down 14% year-over-year from $505 million

Here are the October 2019 game sales rankings (based on dollar sales, not units):

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
  2. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order**
  3. Pokémon Sword*
  4. Pokémon Sword and Pokemon Shield Double Pack*
  5. Pokémon Shield*
  6. Madden NFL 20
  7. Death Stranding
  8. NBA 2K20
  9. Need for Speed: Heat
  10. Luigi's Mansion 3*
  11. FIFA 20
  12. Borderlands 3
  13. The Outer Worlds
  14. Just Dance 2020
  15. Mario Kart 8*
  16. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
  17. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
  18. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
  19. Grand Theft Auto V
  20. Mortal Kombat 11
  • *Does not include digital sales
  • **Does not include Steam sales
  • ***Minecraft digital sales include Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but not other digital sales.

Here are the best-selling games of November 2019 by platform:

Nintendo Switch

  1. Pokémon Sword*
  2. Pokémon Sword and Pokemon Shield Double Pack*
  3. Pokémon Shield*
  4. Luigi's Mansion 3*
  5. Mario Kart 8*
  6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
  7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
  8. Just Dance 2020
  9. Ring Fit Adventure*
  10. Super Mario Odyssey*

PlayStation 4

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
  2. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
  3. Death Stranding
  4. Madden NFL 20
  5. Need for Speed: Heat
  6. NBA 2K20
  7. FIFA 20
  8. The Outer Worlds
  9. Marvel's Spider-Man
  10. Borderlands 3

Xbox One

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
  2. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
  3. Madden NFL 20
  4. NBA 2K20
  5. Need for Speed: Heat
  6. FIFA 20
  7. Borderlands 3
  8. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
  9. Red Dead Redemption II
  10. The Outer Worlds

Here are the best-selling games of 2019 year-to-date:

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
  2. NBA 2K20
  3. Madden NFL 20
  4. Borderlands 3
  5. Mortal Kombat 11
  6. Kingdom Hearts III
  7. Tom Clancy's The Division 2
  8. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
  9. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order**
  10. Anthem

That's all for the breakdown of this month's numbers. For more information, you can consult Mat Piscatella's thread right here. If you'd like details on last month's NPD breakdown, you can find that right here.

Samuel Tolbert
Contributor

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance gaming writer who started working for iMore and its sister sites Windows Central and Android Central in July 2019. He handles news, previews, reviews, and exclusive original reporting, and has also been featured on TechRadar.

With a background studying engineering before he shifted his focus to gaming journalism, he's skilled at identifying technical advantages and disadvantages provided by different hardware. If he’s not writing something, he’s off playing video games, spending time with his pets, exercising, or reading. He's also fond of trying to draw things with his iPad.