Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the best-selling game of the year (so far)

October has been a frankly astounding month for new games. Last month saw the release of Forza Horizon 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 – arguably four of the most anticipated games of the year. I was a bumper month, and that’s been made obvious by the $1.5B consumer spend during October. According to US tracking firm the NPD, October 2018 saw the “highest total spend” for any October since the NPD started tracking the industry in 1995.

For many, Red Dead Redemption 2 is obviously the big one. After five years of waiting, players finally got to roam the wild west again. The game scored incredibly well critically, and sold incredibly well too, going on to have the best weekend opening of any product in the history of entertainment media.

It was still outsold by Call of Duty.

“Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the best-selling game of October. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launch month dollar sales represent the eighth highest in Video Game history since The NPD Group began tracking in 1995,” Said NPD’s Mat Piscatela. “Black Ops 4 instantly becomes the best-selling game of the year, and the second best-selling game across the past twelve month period, trailing only Call of Duty: WWII”.

Of course it’s worth noting that Red Dead Redemption 2 was only tracked for 9 days in October.

“With just nine days of reported sales, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the second best-selling game of October 2018 and is now also the second best-selling game year to date. Red Dead Redemption 2 launch month sales more than tripled those of the previous title in the series, Red Dead Redemption, which launched May 2010″.

We’ll have to wait until November’s NPD figures to see how the two games compare with a longer tail. The NPD mostly tracks physical sales. Here are the top games for October, along with the biggest games of the year.

October 2018 Top 20 Games

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
3. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
4. NBA 2K19
5. Super Mario Party
6. Soul Calibur 6
7. FIFA 19
8. Marvel’s Spider-Man
9. Madden NFL 19
10. WWE 2K19
11. Forza Horizon 4
12. Lego DC Super Villains
13. My Hero One’s Justice
14. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
15. Mario Kart 8
16. GTA 5
17. Super Mario Odyssey
18. Diablo 3
19. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
20. NHL 19

NPD Top 10 Games – Year-to-date

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
3. Far Cry 5
4. Marvel’s Spider-Man
5. NBA 2K19
6. God of War
7. Monster Hunter: World
8. Madden NFL 19
9. GTA 5
10. Call of Duty: WW2

Last Updated: November 23, 2018