The video game sales figures (courtesy of NPD) are in for October 2011 and we're finally seeing some improvement over last year. Overall, the industry is only up 1% from the same time period last year, but keep in mind that NPD does not track digital software sales, which doesn't paint the entire picture. They are,however, comparing apples to apples since last year's figures also don't include those sales either. Surprisingly, hardware sales had the largest growth spurt with a 6% overall increase. The Xbox 360 was the top-selling console for the month moving 393,000 units, which was a 20% unit sales increase over October 2010.
On the software side, Battlefield 3, took the top spot selling over two million copies in October. The Dark Knight glides into second place with over 1.5 million copies of Batman: Arkham City flying off the shelves. Other notable titles include NBA 2K12, RAGE and Dark Souls, which all launched in October. And for the first time this entire year, Call of Duty: Black Ops was not on the top 10 list for video game sales. Black Ops took advantage of lackluster figures all year and has graced the top-seller list every single month in 2011. That streak is now over, but don't fret, Modern Warfare 3 will be there for many months to come.
Here are the 10 top-selling games for October 2011 (US):
- Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)
- Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3)
- NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2, PC)
- Rage (360, PS3, PC)
- Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360)
- Dark Souls (PS3, 360)
- Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP)
- Forza Motorsport 4 (360)
- Gears of War 3 (360)
- FIFA Soccer 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, 3DS)
[via Joystiq]
Twitter: @richieprocopio
