NPD October: Overall growth led by Grand Theft Auto V, Pokemon X & Y

The NPD Group’s monthly US retail report has been released, showing overall growth for a third consecutive month thanks to the performances of the latest Grand Theft Auto and Pokemon titles.

Total spend for October hit $791.1m, an increase of 5 per cent year-on year. The positive results is largely due to a 10 per cent YOY increase in the software category, which worked out to be $495.1m of the period’s total amount earned.

NPD indicated that GTA V and its near 1.1m sales had some impact on the positive results, but the handheld sector and Pokemon X & Y were given the lion-share of the credit for the increases.

Hardware saw an 8 per cent decline to $171.m, though portable systems actually saw an increase for the first time since early last year.

The 3DS ended up on top of the category for the sixth month in a row, while Xbox 360 retook the top console spot back from PS3 following last month’s dethroning.

Accessories hardly moved from their finish in 2012, showing a one per cent increase between the two periods. That’s almost entirely due to the massive spike in sales the category saw last year on the back of the Skylanders franchise.

To sum up, it was a good month for the industry and more good times are likely ahead with the next-gen console launches entering the equation beginning next month.

Growth in video game software sales over the last few months has reversed negative year-to-date trends caused by declines seen earlier in the year with video game software sales currently flat to last year,” NPD Group’s Liam Callahan said.

With the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One, we hope to see positive trends over November and December which would lead to an increase in software sales for the year.”

Here’s your top software products across all platforms:

1. Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS3, Xbox 360)
2. Pokmon X (3DS)
3. Pokmon Y (3DS)
4. Battlefield 4 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
5. Batman: Arkham Origins (PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360)
6. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360)
7. NBA 2K14 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
8. Skylanders Swap Force (3DS, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360)
9. Lego Marvel Super Heroes (3DS, PC, PS3, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360)
10. WWE 2K14 (PS3, Xbox 360)