November 2023 Circana: PS5 Is Still in First, Call of Duty Sells Best

First COD game I've been excited to play in years! I only pick them up on a 3 year cycle it seems.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but why doesn't Circana release numbers (either units or dollars)? If they have rankings, surely they must have have the numerical data to back it up. Are they not allowed? It would be so much more interesting to see the numbers. Of course Call of Duty was 1st, that's not surprising or interesting at all. But how did its performance compare with past iterations?

That's just one example that had me thinking about it, but these updates would be substantially more interesting with the data backing up the ranks.

@NinjaNicky It's like Pokemon in that way. People's brains have been hardwired in to buying it regardless of how low its quality is. And since people still buy it, the chances of it improving are slim.

@NinjaNicky i guess you don't understand why people buy COD, the vast majority of people buy the game for its online fun.

@brn70121 quality makes it for the online fun.

Quite tempted to get the cosmic red face plates after seeing the article picture. Very nice

I'm so glad I bought Hogwarts Legacy on PS5 rather Switch. It's a great game and probably my favourite surprise hit of the year. I assumed it would sell well based on the IP but it deserves its sales on merit.

Microsoft must be rubbing its hands with glee over COD selling well despite the lacklustre reviews.

Call of Duty doesn't deserve that much success, especially not this year, but PS5 certainly does.

@NinjaNicky MW2 09 nostalgia

Shame about COD, but look on the bright side - a lot of the games in this list are actually good!

@NinjaNicky Many gamers who play now weren't playing CoD in 2009, so they're new maps to them. I'd also second @J_e_f_f__D in that most people also don't care about the campaign. BO4 didn't even have one. Also, CoD has best-in-class FPS gameplay, so the fact that it hasn't really changed since the 2019 MW is a good thing, in my book.

I'm glad to see Star Ocean doing so well!

This is the best COD multiplayer in a few years. The movement is fast, the added life so gun shootouts are a thing and of course seeing 2009 maps remade in today’s tech glory has made for a lot of fun, i got around 35 hours in on the multiplayer and not slowing down yet. Plus season 1 just dropped with new maps and even they are good. Sure the campaign left room for improvement. But the thing people are missing is there was a time when shooters and COD released with no campaign and still sold well. Throw in Zombies and this is more of a complete package than many are claiming it to be. I will admit as someone that prefers shooters on a Xbox controller, this is probably the last time i buy a COD if it goes to GP in 2024 and beyond.

@NinjaNicky
I'm guessing the black Friday deals where you could get the phat console with COD for mega cheap (cheaper than the console on its own) accounts for a lot of the sales figures.
But yes it's sad that a stinker of a game sells because of it's name and takes the number 1 spot, that unfortunately will tell Activision that they can churn out the same rubbish every year and still rake in the cash.

@NinjaNicky Part of it is the 'grind' to unlock new weapons, camo's, attachments, calling cards etc as well as complete all those 'new' challenges.

If you have got every camo, attachment etc in the game, then the 'new' one gives them all that to play for. Even if the Maps aren't 'new' the new Movement does change up the Maps a bit more too and you have the Nostalgia too of playing some Iconic maps.

It may not change 'much' but part of the game-play loop is the 'rewards' of unlocking new stuff as you play. If you have unlocked everything, reached maximum level etc, then you want something 'new' even if that isn't as 'great' value as its 'predecessor' seems to others.

I doubt it will go down in CoD history as one of the 'best', but it is giving CoD gamers that game-play and rewarding experience. Almost every match you play, you'll be unlocking 'something' new and that drives players to 'play one more' because they are close to unlocking something, levelling up etc that 'older' games no longer offer having already unlocked 'everything' in those...

To me, its perhaps more than Fifa or MLB changes - which at time you think they could just 'update' the stats for the 'new' season as the 'Game-play' doesn't really change - but people still buy those too.

Despite the Competition (BF2042, Apex, Fortnite, Valorant, Destiny, Halo, Doom, Quake, Borderlands etc etc) there isn't really a game that feels like, plays and does what CoD does. If you prefer Battlefield for example, CoD may feel too fast or too twitchy, some don't like Cartoony aesthetics or Sci-fi settings either so if CoD is 'bad', its still really the only game on the market that ticks their boxes.

After CoD4, people complained WW2 was a step back, then MW2 was too arcade-like with bright pop-ups and 100pts for kills. By Ghosts, everyone was 'fed' up with Boots on the ground and not 'evolving', Titanfall was going to Kill CoD. They hated Advanced Warfare and WW2 was the 'end' for CoD. Vanguard was a disaster - and people thought BF2042 would overtake it - until DICE messed that up even more. Every year, since CoD4, there has been a 'vocal' internet section that constantly feels the need to be negative about the 'new' CoD, yet it still succeeds. And its not the same 'players' as 20yrs ago either...

Am i disappointed in the gamers yes, surprised not really. It shows with Madden you can do what you want the new generation buys a name not quality.

As long as low-quality products are sitting on top of the charts, why bother to innovate and go for higher standards? Average gamers are to be blamed not the developers 🤔

Why is it always “…posted on X, formerly known as Twitter…”, but we don’t get a cursory “…Circana, formerly known as NPD…”?

First world question.