NPD: October Video Game Sales Flat

18 Nov, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

---

Heading into the winter holidays, sales of new packaged video games in October were flat at $790.7 million, compared with $791.3 million during the prior-year period. Catalog sales fell 28% to $359.2 million.

Meanwhile, sales of consoles such as Xbox One and PlayStation 4 helped increased hardware sales 59% to $273.5 million. Accessories spiked 22% to $166.8 million.

“October marks the first 12 months of sales for the Xbox One and PS4; and after the first year, these consoles have had a great start as cumulative sales are currently over 70% higher than the combined first-year totals of Xbox 360 and PS3,” NPD analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement.

Hardware sales of eighth-generation consoles represent close to 80% of dollar sales this month driving overall console sales to increase by 186% over October 2013, according to Callahan.

Not surprisingly, with the start of the NBA season, the top-selling new physical release title was NBA 2K15 from Take 2 Interactive. That said, new physical releases sold 42% fewer units than the games that launched in October 2013.

“This month marked the best October on record for video game subscription cards, beating out … last October by 24% — another sign that consumers are starting to shift their purchasing towards digital,” Callahan said.
 

Bookmark it: