Despite all the calls for the publishing giant’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, to resign, and faced with a growing amount of competition, Call of Duty: Vanguard was still the best-selling game in the United States last November.
Is Activision Blizzard ever going to change?
NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella broke the news of Call of Duty: Vanguard’s sales on Twitter. In his monthly report of video game sales in the United States, Piscatella revealed that Vanguard wasn’t just the best-selling game in the United States for November, but it’s also the second best-selling game of 2021. He also noted that this is the 14th straight year that Activision’s popular first-person shooter series became the best-selling title of its release month.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2021 It appears that gamers continue to support Activision Blizzard despite all that’s going on right now. For example, employees are currently demanding for Bobby Kotick to resign. Meanwhile, both Xbox and PlayStation are reconsidering how their respective brands will be associated with Activision Blizzard going forward. To make matters worse, it’s as if Activision Blizzard hasn’t learned a thing at all. One executive even went as far as to ask workers not to unionize in a company-wide email. Having said that, it’s interesting that Call of Duty: Vanguard sold as well as it did. Outside of all the ongoing issues that Activision Blizzard is facing, there were reports earlier this year that Vanguard’s sales have dropped massively. Not to mention, there’ve been rumors that Activision is reconsidering its annual release schedule. On top of all this, Vanguard hasn’t been getting good reviews from critics and audiences alike. In addition to Vanguard, Piscatella’s report also talks about the other best-selling games of November and 2021, in general. Case in point, right next to Vanguard, Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 2042 was the second best-selling game last month and the sixth best-selling game of 2021 overall. Next up are Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl followed by Forza Horizon 5, which recently set a new Xbox Game Studios record. When it comes to consoles, the Nintendo Switch has outsold the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X once again. If this keeps up, the Switch will end up becoming one of the five best-selling consoles of all time ahead inching closer earlier this year. However, for that to happen, stocks will have to keep up first. Overall console sales were the lowest it’s been since November 2016, which was largely driven by the “lack of available console inventory.”
