It's no secret that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been a resounding success, with Luigi's Mansion 3 failing to topple the game one week after its release. Still, the game manages to break records, as it has now become the best-selling game of 2019 thus far.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, data from NPD showed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was both October's best-selling game and the "best-selling game of the year to date." This is also the series' twelfth year in a row as having the best-selling game in its launch month.
NPD has provided other data for game sales from October 6th to November 2nd. While the aforementioned Call of Duty: Modern Warfare took first place, The Outer Worlds was the second best-selling game of October while Luigi's Mansion 3 took third place. NPD video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella said that Luigi's Mansion 3 had set a sales record for the franchise in its month of release, putting it ahead of the first Luigi's Mansion.
However, Luigi's Mansion 3 may actually be higher on the list, as Nintendo doesn't share its digital sales data with NPD, which could put its performance ahead of The Outer Worlds.
Regarding other software data, Madden NFL 20 came in as the fourth best-selling game of October 2019 while NBA 2K20 came in fifth. Ghost Recon Breakpoint held a sixth-place position with WWE 2K20 falling just behind it. Mario Kart 8 and Grand Theft Auto V still hold strong on the charts as the 12th and 14th best-selling games of October, respectively.
Additionally, the best-selling hardware of October turned out to be the Nintendo Switch and, further, has been the best-selling console of 2019, despite a decrease in overall hardware sales.
The industry's performance overall, between hardware, software, game cards, and accessories totaled at $1.03 billion in revenue. According to GamesIndustry.biz, this places it as the second-best October of the decade in terms of sales, just behind 2018's October, which brought in $1.57 billion in revenue.
While it's very likely Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will maintain its position as being the best-selling game of 2019 by the end of the year, other major releases have yet to make their mark in the sales data, including Pokémon Sword & Shield and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Furthermore, Black Friday could possibly shake things up in future data from NPD.