Battlefield 3, Arkham City dominate October US sales

By Fred Dutton Published 12 November, 2011

While Xbox 360 tops hardware chart by huge margin.

Battlefield 3 was the top-selling game in the US for the month of October, selling just shy of two million copies, according to the latest NPD sales data.

Batman: Arkham City came in second selling a very healthy 1.5 million units, followed by NBA 2K12 and Rage. According to GameInformer, id Software's shooter sold 550,000 copies in its debut month.

From Software's no-nonsense RPG Dark Souls stormed the chart at six, while Forza 4 debuted in eighth. Sales figures for those titles have not been announced.

The full top 10 lined up as follows:

  1. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC), Electronic Arts
  2. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3), Warner Bros. Interactive
  3. NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2, PC), Take Two Interactive
  4. Rage (360, PS3, PC), Bethesda Softworks
  5. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360), Ubisoft
  6. Dark Souls (PS3, 360), Namco Bandai Games
  7. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP), Electronic Arts
  8. Forza Motorsport 4 (360), Microsoft
  9. Gears of War 3 (360), Microsoft
  10. FIFA Soccer 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, 3DS), Electronic Arts

Yet again, Xbox 360 was the biggest selling console of the month, with year-on-year sales up nearly 21 per cent to 393,000.

The 3DS had a good month too, with Nintendo announcing sales of over 250,000. The Wii shifted "nearly 250,000", while 180,000 Americans opted for an original DS over its flashier successor.

Sony didn't make PlayStation 3 sales figures public, though NPD confirmed that the 3DS was the second biggest seller of the month, putting PS3 sales below 250,000.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Vitor #1 6 months ago

    So both NBA 2K12 and Rage sold 550,000 copies each? Or just one of them? Somewhat poorly worded.

    EDIT: According to Gameinformer, it was Rage that sold that many. Eurogamer article needs clarification.
    Edited by Vitor at 12/11/11 @ 02:35

  • Master09 #2 6 months ago

    Dark Souls is nicer than ice-Skyrim.

  • PenguinJim #3 6 months ago

    Dark Souls shipped 1.5 million, I heard: http://www.industrygamers.com/news/dark-souls-ships-15-million-units/

    Dunno about sold.

  • Triggerhappytel #4 6 months ago

    I would be interested to know how many copies Dark Souls actually sold - do you not have that info, EG?

    I also wonder what the PS3/360 split on it was, given the US's obvious favoritism of MS's console.

  • DozyKipper #5 6 months ago

    Wonder why the Americans like the 360 over the PS3 so much.

  • inutaihanyou #6 6 months ago

    The 360 is popular because its cheaper here, you can get one for 120 bucks at Gamestop as opposed to paying 200+ out of pocket for a brand new PS3. Multiply that by the people who buy one because the people they want to play with have one and it makes sense.

    Now that's not to say that PS3's aren't popular, i have one, many of my friends have one too. Its just that Sony's console just is not AS popular. If someone already has a 360, they are probably not gonna see the point of getting another system for a relatively small amount of exclusives, its a recession after all.

    Also for Dark Souls, It was PS3 sales overall 3 to 1, because of the install base from Demon's Souls and the brand awareness factor playing a part.
    Edited by inutaihanyou at 12/11/11 @ 09:35

  • lockload #7 6 months ago

    Xbox is popular because xbox connects with american gamers, just go there everyone talks about xbox. Everyone i met at E3 asks whats your gamertag, always

    Also microsofts stats show the overiding system that sells is the more expansive one with a hard drive

    Price is key but thats more down to sony putting a stuff in there that people dont want. The problem for sony is the USA and the UK are the majority of all game sales and xbox are strong in both markets

    Its easy to forget the gaming scene last gen 80% playstation, 15% Xbox and 10% gamecube

    The change in the market share has been pretty incredible for last gen i doubt xbox every predicted this kind of change
    Edited by lockload at 12/11/11 @ 10:47

  • Jonny5Alive7 #8 6 months ago

    @lockload Agree with everything you said.

  • Penguinzoot #9 6 months ago

    Its easy to forget the gaming scene last gen 80% playstation, 15% Xbox and 10% gamecube

    Does. Not. Compute. Argh!

  • bladdard #10 6 months ago

    Sony has always pitched the PS3 as a premium product but the difference between the two consoles is tiny and the cheaper 360 price point gives it a massive advantage.

    Last gen the PS2 had the games catalog to increase its desirability and beat the xbox hands down but this gen especially for the US market the PS3 games catalog isn't nearly so attractive.

  • cloudskipa #11 6 months ago

    The 360 was actually the first console I felt no need to mod as it got everything right straight out of the box. XBLA offers me all he retro I could need and the games are priced fairly too plus it has a superb range of exclusives. It's a very different beast to the original Xbox, in some ways I liken the 360 to what the Dreamcast 2 could of been. Not sure why it gives me that vibe but it always has done.

  • Spazdarn #12 6 months ago

    @DozyKipper Wonder why all of Asia practically hates the Xbox. They buy their own. I think it's been unfairly treated but it does very well in the states..
    Edited by Spazdarn at 12/11/11 @ 13:20

  • mossychops001 #13 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 11:49:27 04-05-2012

  • Gastrian #14 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Snake_2011 #15 6 months ago

    I went 360 first when it broke, the PS3 came out got one & never went back to Xbox. PS3 just felt like the better console to me.
    Edited by Snake_2011 at 12/11/11 @ 13:51

  • Machiavellian #16 6 months ago

    Wonder why the Americans like the 360 over the PS3 so much.

    More people in the US have a 360 so that means the chance of your friend having one is greater than the PS3. People usually pick the console where most of their friends have especially if they are going to be playing online.

  • Hindle #17 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:04:43 04-04-2012

  • Dizzy #18 6 months ago

    Maybe the Americans never fell for the POWER of CELL bullshit? Then again, maybe Sony marketing is just better in Europe.

  • UkHardcore23 #19 6 months ago

    Shame Sony are not releasing their numbers, had they sold more than the 360 you can bet your bottom dollar we'd be seeing those numbers ;)

  • makeamazing #20 6 months ago

    Actually i don't think they would, i mean PS3 is selling a lot more than Xbox this year, but the only time Sony talk about it is on the quarterly figures on the whole... though it may be because they are not winning everywhere might be the reason why.
    Edited by makeamazing at 13/11/11 @ 11:01

  • stuntmaster #21 6 months ago

    dark souls has done well and hardly anyone i know has even heard of it on xbox . great tho

  • djronz. #22 6 months ago

    Those yanks just lap up the 360 dont they! i suppose partly down to it being an american product (and fair play to them) though like there cars build quality is shit! lol

    I guess a huge part is the now social side of gaming online, people will buy the console their mates have so they can play online and ms's whole stragety this gen has been very cleverly based around xbox live. Couple that with heavy marketing of a game like COD and you ve got a winning formula.

  • spunkythefunkymunkey #23 6 months ago

    NB: This is EUROgamer, I don't give a flying squirrel turd about US sales figures!

  • DwarfyP #24 6 months ago

    @DozyKipper Because it is a better console with a better controller and better online system.

    UK is also mainly Xbox 360 market and PS3 is mainly continental Europe and Asia.

  • mossychops001 #25 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 11:49:27 04-05-2012

  • inutaihanyou #26 6 months ago

    @lollage

    "You got a source for that? I wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to a 50/50 split like it was in the UK."


    http://thesilentchief.com/2011/10/12/worldwide-sales-of-dark-souls-top-690k-ps3-version-leads-the-way/

    The UK is only part of worldwide sales.

    Also, Dark Souls would HAVE to have sold much more on PS3, as it was a PS3 exclusive in Japan and the Japanese sales make up a significant portion of worldwide average.
    Edited by inutaihanyou at 13/11/11 @ 21:28

  • Mister-Wario #27 6 months ago

    @lollage More exclusives? Like what? And differences in game performance seem to be pretty much negligible nowadays if the Digital Foundries are anything to go off.

    In any case, I like my PS3 more than my 360. I like the exclusives on it, I like how it plays Blu-Rays, and I also like how it plays my old PS1 games. And since I don't tend to use online multiplayer much it's less of an issue. At the end of the day, I get the impression different people like each console for different reasons, and nobody is necessarily wrong. More often than not it seems largely dictated by what people around you own: my brother, a longtime 360 fan, recently picked up a PS3 because all his flatmates own them.

  • inutaihanyou #28 6 months ago

    @lollage Well considering we don't have "official" sources, either take that or leave it

  • DRUNK3N-_-DRAGON #29 6 months ago

    @inutaihanyou you make fanboys fashionable!