EA shoots and scores in October

Huge sales of FIFA 12 and Battlefield 3 saw EA dominate the boxed games market in the UK last month, according to GfK?Chart-Track.

The football sim topped the charts, while Battlefield 3 had to settle for second place. Battlefield’s achievement is notable as the game was only on sale for two days before the data was calculated.

In total, 4,019,442 boxed games were sold last month, generating over 118.3m. Compared to October 2010, that’s a drop of 14 per cent in units and a fall of 5.2 per cent in value.

Other big winners last month were Warner Bros, Bethesda and Sega. Warner Bros is the second biggest publisher of October thanks to the success of Batman: Arkham City, while Bethesda and Sega rose up the rankings thanks to Rage and Football Manager 2012.

Xbox 360 was once again the dominant console. 40 per cent of all boxed games sold last month were Xbox 360 titles.

The UK?October Top 20

1. FIFA 12 (Electronic Arts)
2. Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts)
3. Batman: Arkham City (Warner Bros)
4. Forza Motorsport 4 (Microsoft)
5. Rage (Bethesda)
6. Just Dance 3 (Ubisoft)
7. Football Manager 2012 (Sega)
8. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (Konami)
9. Gears of War 3 (Microsoft)
10. Zumba Fitness (505 Games)