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The US games market last month was at its healthiest for a month of October since NPD started tracking game sales in 1995. The $1.55bn (£1.21bn) in sales were undoubtedly boosted by the blockbuster games releasing in October: software sales more than doubled compared to the same period last year, reaching $965m (£755m).
And it’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 that took the crown, beating Red Dead Redemption to No.1, though CoD spent 14 more days on shelves that Rockstar’s hit so it’s a natural result. Black Ops 4 instantly became the best-selling game of the year (with PC digital sales not included in NPD’s report) and, looking at the past 12 months, it’s only beaten by the previous entry in the Call of Duty franchise, WWII.
Meanwhile, Red Dead Redemption debuted at No.2 and instantly became the second best-selling title of the year. NPD noted that launch sales for the title have tripled compared to the 2010 original.
Another new entry in the charts was Soulcalibur VI, debuting at No.6 and becoming the third biggest launch in the franchise’s history, after 2008’s Soulcalibur IV and 2002’s Soulcalibur II.
Despite fierce competition, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey remained steady at No.3, while Super Mario Party managed to go up month-on-month, after debuting at No.9 in September. Climbing to No.5, it’s now the third fastest selling Mario Party game.
Hardware sales were up 26 per cent year-on-year, with PS4 being the best-selling console for October. NPD’s games analyst Mat Piscatella noted that “October 2018 unit sales of PlayStation 4 reached the highest mark for any PlayStation hardware platform in an October month since the PlayStation 2 in October 2002.”
Here’s the Top Ten for the period between October 7th to November 3rd (data courtesy of NPD Group):
