Xbox 360 Tops U.S. Game Hardware Market in November
Microsoft's platform takes console spot for 23rd-consecutive month.
Following the console performing considerably well during Black Friday, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has topped the U.S. game hardware market in November for the umpteenth time.
It sold 1.26 million Xbox 360 units in November, making it the top-selling console in the market for the 23rd consecutive month.
Microsoft's achievement, however, is somewhat surprising; Nintendo launched its next-generation console in the form of the Wii U, but the former did manage to sell 960,000 units during the week of Black Friday. The Wii U also launched around halfway through the month, giving the console fewer days to accumulate sales.
Nintendo announced that its total hardware sales during the month, which includes the Wii U, Wii, 3DS and DS, reached 1.75 million. It sold 910,000 units between its DS and 3DS, as well as 845,000 console units. The Wii U in particular sold more than 425,000 units last month.
Sony refused to reveal hardware figures for the month. Total hardware sales reached $838.9 million, representing a 13 percent decline versus the $962.2 million generated during the same period in 2011.
As for the gaming software side, sales decreased by 11 percent to $1.43 billion during November. Accessory sales also suffered a similar fate, dropping by 8 percent for total sales of $280.9 million. Ultimately, the gaming industry accumulated $2.55 billion in sales last month, which is a 11 percent drop when compared to the $2.87 billion the market generated during the same period last year.
"It's important to compare this month's results to November 2005, which was the last time the industry began to transition between console generations with the launch of a new platform," NPD analyst Liam Callahan said. "Comparing this month's results to November 2005, retail video games sales are nearly twice as big as they were then (+97%). This really demonstrates the long-term health of retail sales even as many platforms are quite late in their lifecycles.
"Despite an overall retail video game decline of 11 percent, November had the smallest year-over-year decrease we have seen for dollar and unit sales so far this year," he added. "This is a sign of momentum going into the December holiday period."

irrelevant console sales. All three Companys includding Sony are sitting just fine, and these are all
out dated consoles anyway. ( Big Deal ). As for the Wii U, it's nothing at all to get excited about, it's
processing power is less than that of a 7 year old Xbox360 so Bla Bla Bla. The Big story about Consoles will be next Holiday season when the real Next Gen. Consoles arrive.
Yes, in the biggest market for consoles, how sad....
I'm going to guess a console will still win, only because game devs whine out of their butts about how PC gaming is so hackable which is their excuse to not make a PC port.
That might just be the sad truth. We all know damn well that we could build a PC today that will outdo probably the next generation of consoles, well, certainly the Wii U, but that's not all that difficult.
with good programmers, the things still has life, have you seen halo 4?
I've got a PS3 and seriously thought about getting a 360 just for the new Forza because I'm GT5 is getting a little long in the tooth. However, I play shooters on a powerful PC, so I couldn't justify it. There are several PS3-only titles I still enjoy however (the Uncharted and Infamous series, Little Big Planet, and the Motorstorm series).
I'm on my second PS3 as my original fat boy died after three years (a common occurrence with a failed BD reader). If my current one, now two years old (slim variant) dies as well as happened to two of my friends on their second units, I will not be purchasing a third one and I'll have serious reservations about buying the PS4.
Just means to me that there are alot of 12-17 yr olds out there with really outdated hardware by the tv. Even the so called next gen consoles are already outdated by my current PC specs. -
There are Millions of Adults out there that won't buy PC's for gameing because they don't want to have to upgrade their Graphics card every three years and they also don't want to have to spend an Hour setting up every new game they buy to play right on their computer. And last but not least there are millions of Adults that don't want to sit in an uncomfotable or half comfortable PC chair and prefer to sit on a comfortable recliner or cozy Couch. many reasons why PC gameing is alway's on the edge of going completely away.
Yes that does seem to be the demographic of Toms Hardware lately.
As for the Xbox, it's had a great run but it's time for it to die. Even if they have managed some graphical miracles on this ancient hardware, load times are annoyingly long and the frame rates are barely chugging along with modern 360 titles. And for the fanboys out there, don't expect the next gen Xbox to be earth-shattering hardware specs because it wont be.
960k was for the entire lineup of Nintendo products, which honestly is pretty sad when ONE console from Microsoft is beating 4 products from Nintendo, the WiiU I dont think is as big of a hit as Nintendo thought, hearing many people finding regular and deluxe models at many places right before Christmas is pretty sad for a new Console from Nintendo and then you have Microsoft still selling that many consoles in one month 6 years later AND beating out 4 products of Nintendo's put together? I say thats pretty darn impressive