Gaming Sales Report: How Hogwarts Legacy Challenges Call Of Duty's Market Domination

In recent years, Activision Blizzard Inc's Call of Duty and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's TTWO Rockstar games have reigned supreme in U.S. video game sales.

A new challenger, Hogwarts Legacy, is poised to disrupt this dominance, according to Circana's monthly reports.

Currently, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc's WBD Hogwarts Legacy leads in sales, potentially dethroning the long-standing reign of Call of Duty and Rockstar titles for the first time since 2008, IGN reported.

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Regarding the sales performance, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted Hogwarts Legacy's remarkable sales, buoyed further by its recent launch on Nintendo ADR's NTDOY Nintendo Switch.

But, keep in mind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's sales were trailing compared to Modern Warfare 2's at a similar point last year due to various factors, impacting its year-over-year performance.

"It's not to say that Modern Warfare 3 is doing poorly (it is already the second best-selling game of 2023 after all), but no it is not currently meeting what Modern Warfare II did a year ago," Piscatella told IGN.

The report highlighted a decline in hardware sales across all major consoles by over 20% year-over-year in November.

Piscatella attributed this to various factors, including Sony Group Corp.'s SONY PS5 and Xbox Series facing a supply and demand balance issue compared to the previous year's constrained supply market.

The report also showcased notable debuts and movements in software sales, including Super Mario RPG remake, Naruto X Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, Star Ocean: The Second Story R, God of War: Ragnarok and Just Dance 2024.

While the PlayStation 5 remained the best-selling hardware platform for 2023, the overall picture and final standings across categories will be clearer when Circana releases its full-year report in January.

Additionally, the absence of Grand Theft Auto 6 data in Circana's charts following Take-Two Interactive's data restrictions might impact future rankings, although Call of Duty is anticipated to reclaim dominance in upcoming years.

Nov 2023 US Video Game Market Highlights from Circana - U.S. consumer spending on video game content, hardware and accessories fell 7% when compared to a year ago, to $5.9 billion. The decline was driven by a 24% drop in hardware spending and a 3% dip in content. pic.twitter.com/le1vme6kLN

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) December 13, 2023

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