Report: U.S. Video Game Sales Up 73% to $1.1B in October

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2007 - 9:23am.

San Francisco - U.S. video game sales topped $1 billion again in October, rising 73% from a year ago to $1.1 billion, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Nintendo's Wii reclaimed the top console spot, after last month when the release of "Halo 3" pushed the Xbox 360 ahead for the first time this year.

The Wii sold a total of 519,000 units, followed by the Xbox 360 (366,000 units) and PlayStation 3 (121,000 units); among handhelds, the Nintendo DS led with sales of 458,000 units.

Total game hardware sales were up 127%, to $469.7 million; console sales rose 195%, to $349.6 million, while portable hardware sales climbed 36%, to $120.1 million.

Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) "Halo 3" was the top-selling game on a single console in October, moving 433,800 units, although Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Guitar Hero 3" sold 1.4 million copies across all platforms in just six days during the month.

"'Guitar Hero' has certainly established itself among the elite video games properties," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "Since it has broad appeal, it's also the type of game that should continue to do very well throughout the holidays."

Overall game sales in October were up 39%, to $513.9 million, as console game sales rose 45%, to $412.5 million and sales of games for handhelds increased 19%, to $101.5 million.