San Francisco, Dec 27 (IANS): As Sony and Microsoft launched their new gaming consoles, the overall sales of video games surged to a record $6.9 billion for the month of November in the US, according to a new report.

The momentum was achieved with a record $1.4 billion spent on new hardware (up 58 per cent from last year) mostly spent on Sony PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.

The strong month brought year-to-date hardware sales just short of $4 billion, up 34 per cent from this point last year.

Overall sales rose 35 per cent year-over-year to a record November, according to data provided by global market research company NPD Group.

PlayStation 5 was the leader in sales. Meanwhile, the lower-priced Nintendo Switch sold the most units in November, bringing its streak there to 24 straight months.

In October, the Nintendo Switch became the best selling console for 23 straight months in the US.

To date, the Switch has sold more than 22.5 million units in the US, and Nintendo revealed this month that more than 68 million units have been sold globally.

The full-game chart was topped by the year's biggest launch, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. It became the best-selling game of 2020.

Sony confirmed to refill its PlayStation 5 stock by the end of the year after the newly-launched gaming consoles were sold out in its biggest launch ever.

Whenever it arrives, PlatStation5 will cost Rs 49,990 in India and the PS5 Digital Edition will be available for Rs 39,990.

The Microsoft Xbox Series X and Series S gaming consoles went on sale on November 10 globally.

Owing to the huge demand, Xbox Series X and Series S consoles are projected to be in short supply until at least April next year.