October’s American video game sales data from NPD is in, and with the exception of Halo 3 making Xbox 360 sales fly last month, it looks like the other 11 months this year will show a clear pattern: the Nintendo DS and Wii are beating the other systems by a landslide.
This year’s video game sales have already achieved the annual sales number for 2005… and the two biggest months are yet to come. We’ll see not only record-breaking revenues but record-breaking year-over-year growth when the final numbers are tallied.
Video game hardware overview:
1. Nintendo Wii — 519,000
2. Nintendo DS — 458,000
3. Xbox 360 — 366,000
4. PlayStation Portable — 286,000
5. PlayStation 2 — 184,000
6. PlayStation 3 — 121,000
Video game software overview top 20:
1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) — 433,800
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (Xbox 360) — 383, 200
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (Wii) — 286,300
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ guitar (PlayStation 2) — 271,100
5. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) — 262,800
6. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) — 239,700
7. The Orange Box (Xbox 360) — 238,400
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/o guitar (PlayStation 2) — 231,700
9. FIFA Soccer 08 (PlayStation 2) — 129,700
10. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo DS) — 116,900
While October’s 433,800 Halo 3 sales are nothing compared to September’s 3.3 million, nearly half a million more is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, Halo 3’s cumulative sales currently stand at 3.7 million, which outpaces the combined sales of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl at 3.6 million. The (Half-Life 2) Orange Box turned in at a disappointing 7th place in the software top ten, while Ratchet & Clank Future didn’t show up at all, despite having two weeks on shelves, reports 1UP.