A beloved video game studio outsold some of October's biggest releases with its first game since being acquired by Microsoft

Kevin Webb

Nov 17, 2019, 18:30 IST

"The Outer Worlds"/Obsidian Entertainment

October is usually one of the biggest months of the year for new video game releases, and this year a new release from a beloved studio took the spotlight.
A newly launched game, Obsidian Entertainment's "The Outer Worlds" was the second best-selling game of the month.
"The Outer Worlds" is Obsidian's first game since being acquired by Microsoft in November 2018. As an independent studio, Obsidian was beloved for games like "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords."
The Nintendo Switch continues to dominate the hardware market as consumers wait for the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
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October is usually one of the biggest months of the year for new video game releases as eager publishers look to get their best games out on the shelves for the holiday season. But with multiple studios prepping for the launch of the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Project Scarlett next year, a bunch of blockbuster titles are waiting until 2020 to launch.

That's left room for some lesser known games to take the spotlight, like Obsidian Entertainment's "The Outer Worlds." "The Outer Worlds" was the second-best selling game of October, according to data from the NPD Group. It was surpassed only by "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," the latest entry into the perennial best-selling franchise.Advertisement

"The Outer Worlds" is Obsidian's first game since being acquired by Microsoft in November 2018. As an independent studio, Obsidian was beloved for games like "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords." "The Outer Worlds" is a single-player shooting game with role playing mechanics that let players alter the story.

"The Outer Worlds" was included in Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass when it was released on October 25th, but that didn't stop people from buying the game outright. Despite being made by a Microsoft subsidiary, "The Outer Worlds" is also available on PlayStation 4, and is coming to Nintendo Switch next year.

In comparison to last year, video game sales in October were down 34 percent, according to the NPD Group. However, October 2018 featured some of the biggest hits of the decade, including"Red Dead Redemption 2,
"Marvel's Spider-Man," and yet another "Call of Duty."

Nintendo's big exclusive release of October, "Luigi's Mansion 3," earned the third spot on the sales chart with a solid debut, while the company's new exercise game "Ring Fit Adventure" was the 10th best-selling game of the month.

"Madden 20," "NBA 2K20," and "FIFA 20" all made it onto the charts as the fall sports season hits a stride.Though it's made it into the top 10 in two consecutive months, Ubisoft's "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint" appears to be a bit of a sale disappointment. The military survival game has been criticized for being too similar to "Tom Clancy's The Division 2," another Ubisoft game released earlier this year.Advertisement

The Nintendo Switch continues to dominate the hardware market as consumers wait for the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The new Nintendo Switch Lite helped push the console over the 40 million mark in lifetime sales in October.

These were the top 10 best-selling games of October: