October’s American video game sales data from the NPD is in, and like almost any month the past year, it shows an unchanged result: A Nintendo system on top, this time the Wii outsold all other systems.
NPD analyst, Anita Frazier, had this to say: “The video games industry grew an impressive 18% year-over-year in the first month of the critical fourth quarter. With 10-months under its belt, the video games industry is still poised to top $22B in annual sales in 2008. — The sales results are mixed this month, however. The console portion of the market made significant gains at 26% across hardware, software and accessories, while the portable side of the market stalled, declining 14%. Year-to-date the portable segment of the market is still up 7%.”
Video game hardware overview:
1. Nintendo Wii — 803,000
2. Nintendo DS — 491,000
3. Xbox 360 — 371,000
4. PlayStation Portable — 193,000
5. PlayStation 2 — 190,000
6. PlayStation 3 — 136,000
Xbox 360-exclusive Fable II had a strong launch with over 790,000 sales thanks to both the standard and limited editions. The NPD mentions that “The expanding variety of content available for consumers to play is clearly paying off for the industry. Looking at the top 10 games for the month, half are “M” rated games while the other half are “E” rated games and they span disparate genres. There is something for everyone on this list.”
Video game software overview top 10:
1. Fable II (Xbox 360) — 790,000
2. Wii Fit (Wii) — 487,000
3. Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) — 375,000
4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 290,000
5. Wii Play (Wii) — 243,000 — 282,000
6. Saints Row 2 (Xbox 360) — 270,000
7. SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation (PS3) — 231,000
8. Little Big Planet (PS3) — 215,000
9. NBA 2K9 (Xbox 360) — 202,000
10. Dead Space (Xbox 360) — 193,000
11. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Xbox 360)
12. Guitar Hero: World Tour (Wii)
13. Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS)
14. Fallout 3 (PS3)
15. Dead Space (PS3)
16. Rock Band 2 (PS3)
17. NBA 2K9 (PS3)
18. Far Cry 2 (Xbox 360)
19. FIFA Soccer 09 (Xbox 360)
20. Guitar Hero: World Tour (PS3)