October Video Game Sales Fall 19% (GME, ERTS, ATVI)

Video game sales in October fell 19 percent over the same quarter last year according to a NPD Group report. Analysts expect that the industry will bounce back in a big way in November with the release of several big name titles.

Causing the drop in sales is the weak list of new games released in October compared to the same month last year when a number of hits were released. Also the progressing age of the current generation of consoles has caused a decline in hardware sales.

Several mega-franchises are set to make November a strong month for game sales. Starting things off on Tuesday was the release of the highly-anticipated "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the sequel to the 2007 Game of the Year. The Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) release sold 4.7 million units in the first 24 hours of release, making $310 million.

Games on the immediate horizon that are sure to drive video game sales are Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed 2," Valve's "Left 4 Dead 2" and Nintendo's new "Super Mario Bros." for the Wii. Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) is pinning its hopes on the highly reviewed "Dragon Age: Origins" to be the sleeper hit of the holiday gaming season. Dragon Age comes from the beloved developers at Bioware.

All three major in home console makers recently dropped the prices of their machines to make a push for the holidays. The strong lineup of software will help to push the consoles of the shelves.

Shares of leading video game retailer GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) are down nearly 4 percent today as investors react to the news.

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