‘Call Of Duty: Vanguard’ Fails To Top ‘Black Ops Cold War’ As 2021’s Best-Selling Video Game

The only game Call Of Duty has to worry about in 2021 is Call Of Duty. That’s according to the latest video game sales report from the NPD Group.

The best-selling video game of November was the newly released Call Of Duty: Vanguard, but it still takes #2 for the year overall, coming in just behind its predecessor, Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

This is in stark contrast to the release of Black Ops Cold War in November of 2020. It instantly became the top-selling game of the year, eclipsing Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare in its first month.

In 2019, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare was the best-selling game of its release month, October, and instantly became the best-selling game of the year as well. Vanguard continues the streak of being the best-selling game of its release month, the 14th consecutive year in a row for a Call Of Duty title, but falls short of topping Black Ops Cold War for year-to-date sales. I’m curious to see if that changes when we have December’s numbers.

Vanguard is a pretty good game regardless of its sales shortcomings, and it’s entirely possible that WWII is simply not as popular as the Black Ops and Modern Warfare Call Of Duty sub-franchises. Lackluster reviews for the campaign also dampened excitement, though a strong multiplayer offering ought to make up for that.

MORE FROM FORBES‘Call Of Duty: Vanguard’ Review: The Good, The Bad, And The ZombiesBy Erik Kain

Battelfield 2042, Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl and Forza Horizon 5 round out the top four games of November.

Madden NFL 22 and MLB The Show 21 take 3rd and 4th place in year-to-date sales.

Here are the top 20 games of November.

Best-Selling Games Of November

1. Call of Duty: Vanguard
2. Battlefield 2042
3. Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl*
4. Forza Horizon 5
5. Madden NFL 22
6. Mario Party Superstars*
7. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
8. FIFA 22
9. Far Cry 6
10. NBA 2K22*
11. Just Dance 2022
12. Mario Kart 8*
13. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
14. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
15. Back 4 Blood
16. Shin Megami Tensei V
17. Minecraft
18. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
19. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
20. Ghost of Tsushima

And here are the top 10 best-selling games year-to-date.

Best-Selling Games Year-To-Date

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
2. Call of Duty: Vanguard
3. Madden NFL 22
4. MLB: The Show 21^
5. Resident Evil: Village
6. Battlefield 2042
7. Super Mario 3D World*
8. Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl*
9. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
10. Far Cry 6

I haven’t posted about the NPD sales figures in a while but I will note that it’s interesting to see that Rockstar’s GTA V has fallen off the best-selling charts at long last. It used to make an appearance every month, even many years after its launch and remains one of the best-selling games ever made.

Still, Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive seem to be missing a major opportunity by releasing GTA titles so far apart—with GTA 6 almost certainly releasing at least a decade after GTA 5 came out. Meanwhile, Activision pumps out a new Call Of Duty every year and laughs all the way to the bank.

I’d love it if you’d follow me on Twitter or Facebook. You can also support my work on Patreon and sign up for my newsletter on Substack.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel here. Thanks!