NPD: Wii, Fable II Fuel Sales of $1.31 Billion in October for U.S Game Industry

[UPDATE: Wii Music, Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 sales added!] Following a somewhat reduced September, the U.S. game industry posted another great month, led by a Wii sales spike. NPD's Anita Frazier says the industry could still top $22 billion

by James Brightman on Thursday, November 13, 2008

NPD: Wii, Fable II Fuel Sales of $1.31 Billion in October for U.S Game Industry

GameDaily BIZ has received the NPD video game sales data for the month of October, and the industry continues to march right along, seemingly unaffected by the economic environment plaguing the nation.

Total sales were up 18 percent to $1.31 billion, as software sales jumped 35 percent to $696.79 million and hardware sales increased five percent to $494.74 million. Sales of accessories did fall eight percent, however, to $120.19 million. Year-to-date, industry sales are still tracking ahead 25 percent at $13.31 billion with software sales up 36 percent and hardware sales up 14 percent.

"With 10-months under its belt, the video games industry is still poised to top $22B in annual sales in 2008," noted NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier. She added, "The sales results are mixed this month, however. The console portion of the market made significant gains at 26% across hardware, software and accessories, while the portable side of the market stalled, declining 14%. Year-to-date the portable segment of the market is still up 7%."

As analysts predicted, the Wii's sales did indeed spike (likely due to increased U.S. supply). Nintendo's Wii dominated the hardware scene with 803K units sold, while the DS handheld sold another 491K.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 also did well following price cuts, selling 371K units, which was nearly double the PS3's 190K. Sony's PS2 and PSP sold 136K and 193K, respectively.

As for software, Lionhead Studios' RPG for Xbox 360, Fable II, easily took first place with 790K copies sold. Meanwhile, the Wii's hardware resurgence clearly had an impact of sales for Wii Fit (a May release), which took second place with 487K units sold. Interestingly, no Guitar Hero or Rock Band SKUs made the top 10, nor did Nintendo's much talked about Wii Music, which released on October 20.

[Update: NPD has informed us that Wii Music sold just 81K units - not exactly a huge sales performance given that this was a much hyped title from Nintendo.]

Here are the top 10 best selling titles (ranked by units):

1. Fable II - Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 790K
2. Wii Fit w/ balance board - Wii – Nintendo – 487K
3. Fallout 3 - Xbox 360 – Bethesda – 375K
4. Mario Kart w/ wheel - Wii – Nintendo – 290K
5. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii – Nintendo – 282K
6. Saints Row 2 - Xbox 360 – THQ – 270K
7. SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation - PS3 – Sony – 231K
8. LittleBigPlanet - PS3 – Sony – 215K
9. NBA 2K9 - Xbox 360 – Take-Two – 202K
10. Dead Space - Xbox 360 – EA – 193K