October heralded some pretty big games in the industry. Arkham City and Battlefield 3 were two gigantic heavyweights in the industry and were actually hot on the heels of a large promotional and fan-forced hype machine. The games did well and will probably make back all their money before the year is through but it looks like last month they didn't do to well. 

First the good news, as NPD reported that this year, total sales were up by 1% for 2011 as it was 1.03 bil last year and now up to 1.05 billion.  Hardware was up 6% to almost $300 mil and acessories, which I honestly thought would have been tiny considering there wasn't a Guitar Hero, DJ hero or Rock Band this year, were up to $621.3 million.

BF3 sold just under 2 million units (however, conflicting reports from Video Game Chartz say otherwise) and that's not including how many sold through Origin.  Arkham City sold 1.5 million last month and barely brought in a few hundred million, this was down 2% from last year and down 3% from the year before. So while other industries are in a period of growth, physical sales are quite rocky, which could lead to more digital distribution...till that well dries up. 

I personally think things will pick up before this month is over and the post-Christmas rush will burn the rest of the year out. I know for a fact that I'll be getting Dead Island, Deus Ex and Driver San Fran all in a heady christmas rush of insanity and biting the heads off teenagers trying to get games.

Via [GamesIndustry.Biz]

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