PlayStation 5 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 were at the top of October’s sales charts, NPD Group said in its latest monthly report, but the year’s total spend still managed to be seven percent lower than it was in 2021. October’s total sales, however, are roughly the same as October 2021’s total sales.
While “lower” may sound grim, the total year-to-date sales number still amounts to $42 billion and doesn’t take November’s blockbuster hits into account, including God of War Ragnarok and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
NPD Group executive director Mat Piscatella summarized the report on Twitter and said that hardware totals declined 10 percent compared to 2021, though PlayStation and Xbox both experienced double-digit hardware sales growth. Software sales increased, thanks in no small part to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which found itself at the top of the month’s software charts, the same as in Europe and the U.K. Despite launching at the end of October, Activision’s latest is now the year’s second best-selling game, behind only Elden Ring.
US NPD PREMIUM GAMES – October 2022 Top 20 Sellers pic.twitter.com/50X5a09uIa
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) November 14, 2022
Total software spend rose to $3.7 billion year to date, a two percent increase compared to 2021.
Impressive as Modern Warfare 2’s debut was, October’s other new releases had strong performances as well, making up eight of NPD Group’s top 20 games for the month. These include Gotham Knights, which was the month’s second best-selling game; Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope at number six; Bayonetta 3 at number nine; and Star Ocean: The Divine Force at number 14.
Persona 5 Royal from Atlus, which launched on non-PlayStation platforms for the first time at the end of the month, slid in at number seven.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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