NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories rose 1 percent to $1.08 billion in October, helped by sales of "Battlefield 3," market researcher NPD Group said Friday.
Battlefield 3 (EA)Hardware sales, which include game consoles such as the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, rose 6 percent from October 2010 to $295.6 million.
Sales of software, or the video games themselves, rose 3 percent to $621.3 million.
That's well short of the 21 percent year-over-year increase that Cowen and Co. analyst Doug Creutz was expecting. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, meanwhile, was forecasting a 14 percent software sales growth.
When including PC games in addition to games for consoles and hand-held gaming devices such as the Nintendo DS, software sales rose 1 percent to $649.5 million.
"Battlefield 3," a military shooter from Electronic Arts Inc. was the month's best-selling game with just under 2 million units sold.
The top ten games of October 2011:
| Rank | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | Battlefield 3 | Electronic Arts |
| 2 | Batman: Arkham City | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 3 | NBA 2K12 | 2K Sports |
| 4 | Rage | Bethesda |
| 5 | Just Dance 3 | Ubisoft |
| 6 | Dark Souls | Namco Bandai |
| 7 | Madden NFL 12 | Electronic Arts |
| 8 | Forza Motorsport 4 | Microsoft |
| 9 | Gears of War 3 | Microsoft |
| 10 | FIFA Soccer 12 | Electronic Arts |
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