Video game sales up slightly in October, Xbox leads consoles with sales up 20%

Sales of video games and video game hardware remained lackluster in October according to market research giant The NPD Group. Overall industry sales in the U.S. grew just 1% to $1.08 billion last month compared to October 2010. Total hardware sales were up 6% year-over-year to $295.6 million in October, and software sales were up 3% to $621.3 million. Sales of video game accessories in the U.S. dipped 5% to $135.9 million last month. Microsoft’s Xbox showed the most impressive growth among home consoles with unit sales up 20% from last October, while sales of Nintendo’s 3DS/DS line topped portable devices with 25% growth. November numbers should be a bit more impressive ahead of the holidays thanks to holiday sales paired with a number of high-profile launches including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which pulled in a record $400 million in sales during its first 24 hours of availability, and Halo Anniversary, which launches on Tuesday. NPD’s list of the top-10 video game titles follows below.

Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)	Rank	Publisher
Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)**	1	Electronic Arts
Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3)**	2	Warner Bros. Interactive
NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2, PC)	3	Take 2 Interactive
Rage (360, PS3, PC)	4	Bethesda Softworks
Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360)	5	Ubisoft
Dark Souls (PS3, 360)**	6	Namco Bandai Games
Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)**	7	Electronic Arts
Forza Motorsport 4 (360)**	8	Microsoft (Corp)
Gears of War 3 (360)**	9	Microsoft (Corp)
FIFA Soccer 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, 3DS)	10	Electronic Arts

Tags: 3DS, Gaming, microsoft, Nintendo, NPD Group, playstation, Sales, sony, video games, Wii, xbox

Zach Epstein