Madden 10 Top Sports Game in November

NPD released the official sales numbers for November yesterday. With the number of big titles that came out during the month the top 20 included just one sports game. What sports game that was does come as mild surprise.

Madden 10 for the 360 finished #20 while NBA 2K10 dropped completely off the chart. While 2K10 was sure to be frontloaded it was still expected to finish higher than its sports competition. It was entering just its second month compared to Madden was which was in its fourth. 2K10 had finished #5 (360) and #7 (PS3) in its opening month showing large gains from the previous year but didn’t quite carry that momentum over to November.

NBA 2K10 had a massive opening in October. So these sales for 2K10, despite falling out of the top 20, are not necessarily disappointing. Based on extrapolated data NBA 2K10 would have fallen approximately 66% to around 105K on the 360 and 74K on the PS3. That would represent an average drop-off for an October release given how the retail environment in November cushions the fall. At this point there is little debate that the NBA franchise alone is sustaining the 2K Sports label.

Madden sales continue to be stronger than last year and the main driving factor at this time seems to be the influx of new console owners. The PS3 sold really well in October and that resulted in the limited decline from the previous month. But in November the 360 charged back and that meant lots of copies going out for both consoles. Madden appears to be the sports game of choice for those getting a 360 or PS3 for the first time.

It comes as absolutely no surprise that NCAA Basketball 10 is no where to be found in the sales charts. No official data will be made available for the game but all signs continue to point to a franchise in trouble that may not be around come next year.