The NPD Group released their full monthly report on the game industry in the USA. October was a favorable month overall, with sales going up 6% year-over-year for a total of $875.7 million in revenues.
That's mostly due to the huge software sales increase brought by multiple big releases like Gears of War 4, Battlefield 1 and Mafia III. As a result, console software sales were up 31% year-over-year for a total of $505.7 million and PC software sales were up for an impressive 172% year-over-year, for a total of $33.8 million.
Software sales boosted the game industry in October even with the continued decline of hardware and accessories sales, down respectively 20% and 24% year-over-year.
Battlefield 1 secured the first spot in the software chart. Here's the Top 10:
- Battlefield 1**
- Mafia III
- Gears of War 4*
- FIFA 17
- NBA 2K17
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim*
- WWE 2K17
- Civilization VI
- Titanfall 2**
- Madden NFL 17
* Does not include digital sales.
**Does not include EA Origin sales on PC.
As previously reported, Xbox One was once again the best-selling console in the United States of America. However, we now know that Sony actually had the highest performing SKU, as revealed by NPD analyst Sam Naji.
The PS4 Slim 500 GB Uncharted 4: A Thief's End bundle was the month's best-selling hardware across the category, accounting for 17 percent of total hardware units sold in the month.
Of course, Sony should register a boost next month with the release of PlayStation 4 Pro and it will be an interesting battle with Microsoft in November. Regarding Xbox, Naji had this to say:
Unit sales for the Xbox One brand of hardware grew by 8 percent compared to last October. Average pricing for the Xbox One hardware fell by 17 percent due primarily to the release of the lower-priced 500GB Xbox One S Minecraft Bundle.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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