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| © Provided by Variety |
By Brian Crecente, Variety
This October, which pulled in $1.55 billion in U.S. sales, was the best October in U.S. video game sales history since the NPD Group starting tracking the industry in 1995, the group reported. Those high sales were powered by a more than doubling of game software sales compared to the same time last year.
The best selling video game of October was “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4,” which is also the best selling game of the year. “Red Dead Redemption 2,” which only had nine days of reported sales in October, was the second best-selling game of the month and year to date. “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” rounds out the top three, holding on to the same spot it had in September. The third best selling game year to date is “Far Cry 5.”
Hardware sales for October in the U.S. grew 26 percent compared to the same period last year, up to $300 million with strong sales for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The PlayStation 4 was the top-selling console of the month. NPD didn’t include a ranking for the Nintendo Switch, but did note that strong sales of the PS4 and Xbox One were “offset by declines across all other platforms.” That’s bad news for Nintendo, which is trying to hit 20 million unit sales for its current fiscal year. The company sold about 5 million Switch globally in the first half of its fiscal year, leaving just under 15 million to sell before the fiscal wraps up. Traditionally the months of November and December are the best period for video game hardware and software sales.
Nintendo announced a “Mario Kart 8” Switch bundle that adds a free game to the hybrid console, and there are a number of Black Friday sales going on this week.
“Switch sales were down year on year as the comparable October 2017 period featured the launch of ‘Super Mario Odyssey,’ supported by the ‘Super Mario Odyssey’ Switch bundle,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella told Variety. “I’m anticipating a strong November and December period driven by the launches of ‘Pokemon: Let’s Go,’ and ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.'”
Rounding out the October U.S. video game sales, accessories grew 54 percent compared to the same time last year, hitting an all-time high of $280 million. The biggest growth driver in this category appears to be headsets and headphones, with Turtle Beach as the leading manufacturer.
The full list of top selling October 2018 games is below:
Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII
1
Activision Blizzard (Corp)
Red Dead Redemption II
2
Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
3
NBA 2K19
4
Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Super Mario Party
5
Nintendo
Soul Calibur VI
6
Bandai Namco Games (Corp)
FIFA 19
7
Electronic Arts
Marvel’s Spider-Man
8
Sony (Corp)
Madden NFL 19
9
Electronic Arts
WWE 2K19
10
Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Forza Horizon 4
11
Microsoft (Corp)
Lego DC Super Villains
12
Warner Bros. Interactive
My Hero One’s Justice
13
Bandai Namco Games (Corp)
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
14
Square Enix Inc (Corp)
Mario Kart 8
15
Nintendo
Grand Theft Auto V
16
Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Super Mario Odyssey
17
Nintendo
Diablo III
18
Activision Blizzard (Corp)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
19
Nintendo
NHL 19
20
Electronic Arts
