As we start to near the end of November, that means that hardware and software sales numbers for the previous month of October 2018 here in the United States have now finally come in, via the NPD Group.
On the software front, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was the month’s best-selling game, surpassing that of Red Dead Redemption 2 which came in at second. Despite Red Dead Redemption 2 having already shipped 17 million copies worldwide, Black Ops 4 was still able to surpass it, surely thanks to its earlier release in the month. Black Ops 4 was the 8th biggest launch in the history of the NPD Group’s tracking and has also now become the year’s top-selling game. Once again, Activision’s annual franchise seems to be looking as strong as ever.
Red Dead Redemption 2, on the other hand, now sits as the year’s second best-selling game, which is quite impressive since it only had 9 days of sales that were tracked for this October period. On the year, Far Cry 5 has now found its way down to third with Marvel’s Spider-Man following in fourth and NBA 2K19 in fifth.
As for the top 20 games in the month of October 2018, you can see them in the image below.
In hardware, Sony’s PS4 was the month’s best-selling console both in terms of units and dollars. This was the best single month of October that a Sony console has had since the PS2 back in October 2002. Five years after the launch of the PS4 and Sony continues to dominate on the hardware charts.
As a final note, October 2018 was the most money ever spent in the United States on video games since the NPD Group began tracking these statistics back in 1995. Total sales for the month reached $1.55 billion across all categories, with the previous October high being in 2008. This record-breaking month is likely attributed to the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 which opted to release in October this year, rather than its usual launch month of November.
Below you can find the NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella going over the month’s totals in further detail. If you’d like to check out last month’s numbers, you can check out the September 2018 NPD charts right here.