The NPD Group exclusively revealed to Gamasutra the Top 20 Software titles for the U.S. in October 2008, showing disappointing sales for Far Cry 2 and evidence of "rhythm game fatigue" for the Guitar Hero series.
Released in mid-October, Ubisoft's Far Cry 2 for the Xbox 360 appeared at 18, running against several other high-profile games that debuted for the console this month, such as Fable II and Fallout 3 -- both of which placed in the NPD's top 5 despite being released at the same time, along with other major releases including Saints Row 2, and Dead Space.
All four versions of Activision Blizzard's Guitar Hero: World Tour failed to crack the Top 10, with the PlayStation 2 edition missing the Top 20 chart completely. Rock Band 2 for the PlayStation 3, released a month after the Xbox 360 version, showed up at 16.
To compare, all four console versions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock occupied the Top 10 in November 2007's software sales list, with the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 releases placing second, third, and fourth, respectively.
The full Top 20 NPD-tracked game chart for October 2008 is as follows:
