According to the NPD Group, overall industry game sales (hardware, software, accessories) during the month were up 18 percent year-on-year to $1.3 billion. NPD said the industry is still on track to hit $22 billion in the U.S. this year.
Software
October's figures were driven by a healthy 35 percent increase in software sales, which hit $696.8 million.
"Console software sales realized the greatest percentage gain year-over-year of any category," said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier. "This month, Fable II captured the top spot selling 790K units across the standard and limited edition SKUs."
- 360 FABLE II MICROSOFT Oct-08: 790K
- WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO May-08: 487K
- 360 FALLOUT 3 BETHESDA Oct-08: 375K
- WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO Apr-08: 290K
- WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO Feb-07: 282K
- 360 SAINTS ROW 2 THQ Oct-08: 270K
- PS3 SOCOM SONY Oct-08: 231K
- PS3 LITTLE BIG PLANET SONY Oct-08 215K
- 360 NBA 2K9 TAKE-TWO Oct-08: 202K
- 360 DEAD SPACE EA Oct-08: 193K
Hardware
Hardware revenues were up just 5 percent, partially due to recent price cuts, to $494.7 million.
The Nintendo Wii sold an astonishing 803,000 units, as supply continues to improve. The next best unit-seller for hardware was Nintendo's DS with 491,000 sold.
In October, Xbox 360 continued to benefit from its early September price cut, selling 371,000 units.
Frazier said, "The price reduction on the Xbox 360 is paying dividends at retail as the platform realized a 7 percent unit sales increase over September. Keeping in mind that September was a 5-week month while October had four, the sales pace increased 33 percent."
Commenting on Xbox 360's performance in the current economic environment, Microsoft's director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Aaron Greenberg told Edge, "We didn't know [how we would do]. We were very cautiously optimistic heading into the first month of the official holiday data with October.
"It does show that when people are staying at home for entertainment and being more cost-conscious, this type of industry does really well."
The PSP outsold the PS3 and PS2 with 193,000 sold. PS3 was close behind with 190,000, down from September's 232,400 (again, September had an extra week). PS2 sold 136,000.
Despite PS3's relatively low sales, Frazier noted that the console "realized the greatest year-over-year monthly unit sales increase at 57 percent."
Greenberg managed to get a jab in against the rival PS3, pointing out how Saints Row 2 for Xbox 360 sold more units than the high-profile PS3 exclusive LittleBigPlanet. "I think what we're finding is that Sony's in a tough position. They've priced themselves as a premium relative to the competition, but not really delivering a premium experience. It's hard to sell the system at a high price when you don't have system sellers."
Regardless of Greenberg's opinion, Sony and its supporters would argue that PS3 exclusives such as the aforementioned LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, Resistance 2 and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, along with other first-party Sony franchises are plenty of reason to own a PS3.
Accessories
Accessory revenues declined 8 percent to $121 million, but Frazier said she expects sales "to pick up again with the anticipated increases in hardware sales for the holidays."