Thanks to a few huge fall releases, video game sales managed to improve year-over-year once again in October, according to the latest numbers sent to us by the NDP Group. This makes for the third month of positive growth for the industry, an estimated $1.3 billion in total consumer spending that signifies a 5% jump over October 2012. The Nintendo 3DS led the hardware segment for the sixth consecutive month, in part due to 2DS sales, although overall hardware sales were down 8% from last year. With the launch of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One this month, hardware sales should see a major surge in November, but for now, Nintendo still has the best-selling console on the market.
Physical software sales were up 10% from last October, “driven by continued strong sales of Grand Theft Auto V and the launch of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y.” Although original projections from the NPD Group showed software sales declining in 2013, the huge numbers being put up by the popular game releases over the past three months have restored confidence that sales will at least be flat for 2013. If the PS4 and Xbox One perform as well as expected, 2013 software sales might even outperform last year’s figures.
