Modern Warfare 3 tops November sales, natch | Circana November 2023

Our Game of the Year coverage continues with the Best PS5, PS4 Art Direction of 2023, of which a top four has been put together by the Push Square editorial team. Here we'll highlight titles that pushed the boundaries of game visuals, whether that's through near photo-realism, a stylish look, or unique artistic elements. These games are a joy to look at just as much as they are to play.

Our individual Game of the Year articles allow our lovely team of writers to share their own personal PS5 and PS4 picks for 2023. Today, it's the turn of reviewer Jamie O'Neill.

2023 brought a lot of classic games back into the fold, but I always knew one certain title would inevitably take the crown for best remake/remaster. Resident Evil 4 rides a fine line of feeling old and new to an impeccable degree, and I’ve got to admit, it’s a heck of a remake.

The recent Insomniac ransomware leak has been an eye-wateringly large scale one, revealing details on a number of upcoming titles planned for the next decade or so – from Spider-Man games and an X-Men series to a new Ratchet and Clank instalment and a new IP – as well as undisclosed sales figures for previously-released titles like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Alongside that, much more recent sales figures for Insomniac’s latest release have also emerged.

While the big three console makers will sometimes crow about sales when it suits them, getting exact sales numbers out of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo is difficult. That said, thanks to the huge Insomniac Games ransomware leak, which has revealed the studio’s lineup for the next decade and much more, we now have solid sales figures for PlayStation up until approximately a couple of years ago.

It’s another weekend with Xbox Free Play Days, but this time there’s a twist to proceedings. Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer and EA Sports FC 24 will be playable by any and all Xbox gamers through this weekend for free – no Xbox Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate is required).

Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake 2 received widespread acclaim from fans and critics when it launched on 27th October, continuing the tale of the tortured, titular writer. The sequel to the cult-classic Alan Wake, buoyed by more than a decade of hype and developed by a Remedy with the momentum of a well-received Control behind it, you'd expect the game to sell like gangbusters, wouldn't you?

We reported previously how Sony had requested sales data group Circana to log PS Portal as its own platform, and now we have the results for its debut month. According to analyst Mat Piscatella, the Remote Play streaming unit was the fourth best-selling system of November, putting it behind the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

It should come as little surprise, but the disappointing launch state of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 didn't stop it from being the best-selling game of November in the USA. New data from Circana confirms the FPS topped the charts last month and instantly become the second best-selling title of 2023, just behind Hogwarts Legacy. Interest in the latest entry made the overall Call of Duty series the second-most-played game on PS5 in November, though Fortnite did claim first place.

It’s another weekend with Xbox Free Play Days, but this time there’s a twist to proceedings. Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer and EA Sports FC 24 will be playable by any and all Xbox gamers through this weekend for free – no Xbox Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate is required).

The former NPD Group (now named “Circana”) has released its full North American sales data for November, typically the biggest gaming month of the year, and surprisingly, the results weren’t that great. Players spent $5.9 billion on games, additional content, and hardware in November, a 9 percent year-on-year decrease. This was largely driven by a 24 percent drop in hardware spending, with all consoles being down double digits year-on-year. The PlayStation 5 was the #1 console, followed by the Xbox Series X/S, with the Switch really dropping off this season. It seems like inflation, and rumors that a new Switch is right around the corner, likely impacted hardware sales this year.

Every year since 2009, either a Call of Duty game or a Rockstar title was No. 1, but that could change in 2023.