Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the best-selling game of November 2023 in the US, per Circana

Despite harsh reviews, the latest Call of Duty title is again the best-selling game of its launch month.

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What you need to know

What you need to know

Another month means more video game sales data to pour over.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3was the best-selling game of November 2023, knockingMarvel’s Spider-Man 2 from its top spot last month. That’s according to Circana executive director Mat Piscatella, whosharedthe latest details for hardware and software sales in the U.S. on Wednesday. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 also instantly becomes the second best-selling game of the year, behind only Hogwarts Legacy, which launched all the way back in February on current-generation hardware and just had a Nintendo Switch version release.

For consoles, the PlayStation 5 was the best-seller in units sold and dollar sales, with Xbox Series X|S hardware taking second place in both measures, meaning the long-running Nintendo Switch was in third place. Overall, total sales reached $5.86 billion for the month, a 7% drop year-over-year, a drop that was primarily driven by a decrease in hardware sales.

Below, you can see the full details on the best-selling and most-played games of the month. As always, remember that some companies, such as Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive and Epic Games, do not share digital sales data, which is why games likeBaldur’s Gate 3have been absent from most of the charts.

November 2023 Circana: Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

November 2023 Circana: Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

  2. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

  3. Hogwarts Legacy

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  1. Madden NFL 24

  2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder*

  3. EA Sports FC 24

  4. Super Mario RPG (2023)*

  5. Mortal Kombat 1

  6. NBA 2K24*

  7. UFC 5

  8. Assassin’s Creed Mirage

  9. Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections

  10. Sonic Superstars

  11. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

  12. God of War Ragnarok

  13. NHL 24

  14. Star Ocean: The Second Story R

  15. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

  16. Minecraft

  17. Just Dance 2024 Edition

November 2023 Circana: Here are the best-selling games in the U.S. so far this year

  1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

  2. Hogwarts Legacy

  3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom*

  4. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

  5. Madden NFL 24

  6. Diablo 4

  7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)

  8. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

  9. Mortal Kombat 1

  10. Starfield

  11. Resident Evil 4 (2023)

  12. EA Sports FC 24

  13. MLB The Show 23**

  14. Dead Island 2

  15. Super Mario Bros. Wonder*

  16. Final Fantasy 16

  17. Street Fighter 6

  18. FIFA 23

  19. Elden Ring

  20. Remnant 2

November 2023 Circana: Top 20 games played by platform

PlayStation:

  1. Fortnite

  2. Call of Duty HQ

  3. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

  4. Grand Theft Auto V

  5. Roblox

  6. NBA 2K24

  7. Mortal Kombat 1

  8. Madden NFL 24

  9. Apex Legends

  10. Minecraft

  11. Aliens: Fireteam Elite

  12. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

  13. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

  14. Gotham Knights

  15. Overwatch 2

  16. NBA 2K23

  17. Dragon Ball: The Breakers

  18. Rocket League

  19. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

  20. WWE WK23Xbox:

  21. Fortnite

  22. Call of Duty HQ

  23. Grand Theft Auto V

  24. Roblox

  25. Minecraft

  26. Starfield

  27. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

  28. Apex Legends

  29. NBA 2K24

  30. Madden NFL 24

  31. Gotham Knights

  32. Forza Motorsport (2023)

  33. Forza Horizon 5

  34. Rocket League

  35. Overwatch 2

  36. Halo Infinite

  37. Dead Space (2023)

  38. Wild Hearts

  39. Mortal Kombat 1

  40. Madden NFL 23

Steam:

  1. Counter-Strike 2

  2. Lethal Company

  3. Baldur’s Gate 3

  4. The Finals

  5. Rocket League

  6. Call of Duty HQ

  7. Apex Legends

  8. Cyberpunk 2077

  9. Risk of Rain Returns

  10. Risk of Rain 2

  11. Destiny 2

  12. BattleBit Remastered

  13. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

  14. Dead by Daylight

  15. Team Fortress 2

  16. Phasmaphobia

  17. Deep Rock Galactic

  18. Rust

  19. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

  20. Half-Life

Analysis: Great games selling well, but hardware is soft

The sheer variety of games in the best-seller lists and the most-played charts is great to see, and bodes well for the health of the industry overall. The drop in hardware sales is not great for such a busy month however. It’s understandable for Nintendo Switch which is just super long-in-the-tooth now, but for PlayStation and Xbox, you’d think more people would want to grab discounted consoles over Black Friday. I’m curious how things continue to shake out in the coming weeks.

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.