Market research group NPD has released October 2017’s US video game sales rankings. It was a busy month for releases across the board but racing titles continued to sell through the month with the arrival of two hyped up releases. However, the results turn out to be quite surprising and not what you might have expected.
Note: Sales rankings are based on performance across both retail and digital mediums.
The best selling racing game of October 2017 in the US is Forza Motorsport 7. Turn 10’s latest placed in 10th position, ousting GT Sport and pushing it to 11th. This is certainly surprising given the selling strength of the franchise compared to its Xbox counterpart. Not many would have predicted GT Sport placing outside the Top 10 in its inaugural month.
A few factors may have played into Forza 7’s success in the month of October. Despite both games launching in the month, the latest Forza title launched on October 3 whereas GT Sport arrived in the US on October 17. Therefore, those key two extra weeks on the market would certainly have helped the overall sales of the game. The Xbox One X’s imminent arrival could have also played into Turn 10’s hands. Forza Motorsport 7 is very much the poster child for the super-powered console, so it’s not a stretch to imagine this helped sales.
Even with these points though, credit must be given to Turn 10 for capturing the North American audience last month. Both racing games also beat out new releases such as The Evil Within 2 and Wolfenstein II: The New Order.
The competitive element of sales aside, racing fans have a reason to rejoice based on these rankings. NPD Group reports that sales of titles in the genre are up 37% year-on-year compared to October 2016. Last year was missing quite a few hard hitters with Forza Horizon 3 being the biggest release. The combination of Project CARS 2, GT Sport and Forza 7 is pushing the genre into the spotlight in 2017. That figure is no doubt helped by the other strong titles this year, including F1 2017 and WRC 7.
Even peripherals for the genre saw a boost with steering wheels doubling in sales compared to the previous month. It’s often said these racing games are best experienced with a wheel so perhaps the consumer is buying into this mindset more than ever.
With the holiday season fast approaching, each racing title (and related peripherals) will be looking to continue this sales momentum into the new year. The full list of the best top 20 sellers of October 2017 can be found below:
Titles marked with an asterisk do not include digital sales.
- Middle-earth: Shadow of War
- Assassin’s Creed Origins
- Super Mario Odyssey**
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole
- NBA 2K18
- FIFA 18
- WWE 2K18
- Madden NFL 18
- Destiny 2*
- Forza Motorsport 7
- Gran Turismo Sport
- Grand Theft Auto V
- The Evil Within 2*
- Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus*
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Mario Kart 8*
- Fire Emblem: Warriors*
- Ghost Recon: Wildlands
- NHL 18
- Rainbow Six Siege
Featured photo courtesy of Imarobot.
See more articles on Forza Motorsport 7 Sales and GT Sport Sales Figures.
