Nintendo tops October US hardware sales

Despite an 11% decline to US$825 million in overall US video game spending last month, The NPD Group reports that Nintendo delivered another dominant performance.
November 20, 2017

For the second month in a row, Nintendo systems accounted for two-thirds of all video game hardware sold in the US, led by the Switch console as October’s best-selling hardware platform.

Nintendo Switch and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition ranked number one and number two, respectively, in the latest US video game sales report for October (including hardware, software and accessories), according to The NPD Group.

Overall hardware spending rose 10% to US$238 million versus the year-ago October period. Despite Nintendo’s comeback with the Switch, Sony’s PlayStation 4 remains the best-selling hardware platform year to date. Hardware spending for the year so far has grown 19% to US$2.3 billion versus 2016.

As for console, portable and PC games, sales fell by 20% in October to US$474 million versus October 2016, which featured the launch of Battlefield 1.

Despite the decline, Super Mario Odyssey (pictured) debuted at number three on the all platforms top 20 games chart—a significant accomplishment considering it launched at the end of the month on October 27. It was also the top-selling game for Switch in October, followed by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 at number two and three, respectively.

The launch month for Super Mario Odyssey is also the third-highest for a Mario action/adventure release in tracked history, followed only by New Super Mario Bros Wii and Super Mario GalaxyMario Kart 8, meanwhile, continues its strong growth landing at number 16 among the top 20 on the all platforms chart, and ranking 10th in the year-to-date all platforms top 20 list.

Looking at accessories, total spending of accessories and gamecards dropped by 7% in October to US$113 million versus a year ago. NDP Group’s October video game sales report precedes the launch of EA’s Battlefront II Star Wars game and the release of Microsoft’s Xbox One X console.

About The Author
Jeremy is the Features Editor of Kidscreen specializing in the content production, broadcasting and distribution aspects of the global children's entertainment industry. Contact Jeremy at jdickson@brunico.com.

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