Market-research firm The NPD Group isn’t releasing the official October video game sales number until later this week, but the analysts at Wedbush Securities are predicting a healthy month before November’s onslaught of new systems.
Wedbush expects software sales up 34 percent compared to last year’s October, for a total of $580 million. This is thanks to a number of high-profile releases, including Battlefield 4, Skylanders: Swap Force, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Pokémon X and Y. September’s Grand Theft Auto V, which broke all sorts of sales records, should also help October’s numbers.
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Webush also expects the Nintendo 2DS, the cheaper, 3D-less take on the company’s popular 3DS portable system which debuted on Oct. 12, to have moved 80,000 units for the month.
It’ll be interesting to see how much longer the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 can stay relevant in the market after their successors, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, come out later this month. The NPD numbers for October should come out on Thursday.