The NPD Group has released the results for November 2013, and boy did things look up for the industry.  Hardware sales soared through the sky thanks to the release of the PS4 and Xbox One.  Sadly, the same could not be said for the software.  Software sales were $1.085 billion this November, a 24% drop from 2012.  Hardware brought in a staggering $1,3 billion, up a massive 58% from 2012.

The top 10 best-selling games of the month were:

  1. Call Of Duty: Ghosts (Activision)
  2. Battlefield 4 (EA)
  3. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft)
  4. Madden NFL 25 (EA)
  5. Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar)
  6. NBA 2K14 (2K Games)
  7. Skylanders: SWAP Force (Activision)
  8. Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft)
  9. Disney Infinity (Disney)
  10. FIFA 14 (EA)

The big story last month is the PS4 and Xbox One and which did better.  NPD Group notes that the PS4 outsold the Xbox One, but both Microsoft and Sony are laying claims to different records.  Microsoft states that is has the fastest-selling console of all time, but Sony says they had the largest console launch in history.

Microsoft reports that 909,132 Xbox Ones were sold in the U.S. last month making it the fastest selling console in history.  They also revealed that 647,000 Xbox 360s were sold last month.

Sony on the other hand lays claim to the title of being the largest console launch in history.  “In North America alone, more than one million PS4 units were sold in only 24 hours and we’re pleased NPD has SCEA President Jack Tretton said. “We are humbled by the passion and excitement demonstrated by gamers for PS4. Demand continues to overwhelm supply, but we’re working hard to get PS4 units into the hands of customers throughout the holiday season.”

So, who won?  Well NPD Group Analyst Liam Callahan threw a huge "but" into the news stating that “when looking at sales on an average per-week basis, Xbox One led PS4. Keep in mind, however, that supply typically becomes constrained in the second week after launch.”  Knowing this it makes it almost impossible to really know who was the fastest-selling as Sony's supply was constrained from launching a week earlier, and Microsoft had the advantage of launching in the last week of November meaning they never had to see that dip that Sony had.  It also makes worldwide sales harder to guess since Sony fragmented their launch with U.S. and Canada getting PS4 November 15 and Europe and South America getting it November 29.

Nintendo also reported some numbers.  The 3DS sold 770,000 units and brought its lifetime total sales in the U.S. past 10 million.  Nintendo refused to reveal Wii U sales numbers, but did note that sales of the struggling console were up 340% from October.