This does not mean that there are no positive signals to highlight for this month of November. Everything has already been said about the global performance of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which naturally takes over the sales lead in its US stronghold. In just 48 hours, the last Kalof also becomes the second best seller of the current year after the Elden Ring phenomenon. The good commercial surprise of October comes from Gotham Knights. Dismissed from the debates a little too quickly, the game of Warner Bros. Games takes the place of runner-up and also slips into the top 20 of the year.
The Switch also played its part in October by welcoming two big new releases. Mario + The Rabbids: Sparks of Hope takes 6th place while Bayonetta 3 grabs 9th place with only two days of sales on the clock. Note that the first is published by Ubisoft and therefore takes account of download sales, which is not the case for the PlatinumGames title, published by Nintendo. The strong comeback of Persona 5, which rises from 291st to 7th place in the ranking, comes in good part from the sales recorded on Switch and Steam. Same phenomenon for NieR Automata, which was 217th last month and headed into the top 20 thanks to its successful porting to the Nintendo console.
In the second part of the ranking, the presence of Star Ocean The Divine Force remains a nice surprise, just as we did not necessarily expect to find Grounded on the occasion of its official release. Finally, sports games seem to be taking up more and more space every year, which benefits Electronic Arts (FIFA 23, Madden NFL 23, NHL 23) and 2K Games (NBA 2K23, PGA Tour 2K23), not to mention Sony Interactive. Entertainment whose MLB The Show 22 is still well established in the top 10 of the year.
Console sales confirm the trend seen in recent months, namely that business is getting better and better for the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series, whose sales increased again in October. And for the 3rd month in a row, the PS5 is leading the race in terms of both volume and value. The small change of the month is on the side of the Xbox Series, which takes second place in volume and value. This means that the Switch, the only machine whose sales have not increased, must be content with the last step of the podium. Remember that Nintendo has lowered its distribution targets for the current fiscal year.