A new Nintendo console and two of the biggest video game launches of all time were not enough to prevent an overall slump in video game sales last month, research suggests.
According to NPD figures, sales of hardware and software in the US dipped by11% on the year in November.
Despite the launch of Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, both of which clocked up record sales, the lack of hits outside the top 5 titles led to an overall dip.
NOPD said that those top 5 games - the two previous titles plus Assassin's Creed 3, Just Dance 4 and Madden NFL 13 - saw a 5% rise in sales.
But compared to last year, the number of true blockbusters was relatively low, and some titles such as Medal of Honor: Warfighter were widely perceived to have under-performed.
Despite the dip, many manufacturers have reported sales records in recent weeks.
On Thursday Activision said that its latest Call of Duty title had crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide sales, faster even than the launch of Modern Warfare 3 last year, which reached the same total in 16 rather than 15 days.
Meanwhile Nintendo has said it sold more than 400,000 Wii U consoles in its first week - below the number of original Wii consoles during its first eight days on the market, but not far off.
Microsoft has also said that its Halo 4 game - only available on the Xbox 360 - has resulted in 50 million games in the franchise being sold, and more kills being made in-game than there are people on Earth.