It’s that time of month again: the August NPD data is in, and it shows that August was a solid month for the video games industry in general.
The August NPD results show that Nintendo is still dominating the hardware charts, with both the Wii and DS taking top honors. Also, Xbox 360 sales are doing well from price cuts while PS3 sales are slowing down from decent July numbers.
On the software side of things, EA’s Madden owned three of the top four spots in sales. This is the first time that a Microsoft console has taken the top Madden spot in the first month of a release. Also, another top ten anomaly: no DS software made the list in August. The NPD’s Anita Frazier told Gamasutra that Madden and Bioshock were the hits this month, and we should see DS titles making their way back to the charts soon.
Lastly, Gamasutra asked Frazier about her thoughts on Sony’s falling PS3 sales, and she replied that their situation is “concerning, and the window for [Sony] turning the story around is certainly getting narrower.”
Hit the jump to see the hardware top ten and the top twenty titles in software.
Here’s the North American sales for August:
Nintendo Wii – 403,600 (4.0 million)
Nintendo DS – 383,300 (12.7 million)
Xbox 360 – 276,700 (6.3 million)
PlayStation 2 – 202,000 (39.1 million)
PlayStation Portable – 151,200 (8.3 million)
PlayStation 3 – 130,600 (1.75 million)
Here’s the software top ten:
1. Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) – Electronic Arts – 896,600
2. Madden NFL 08 (PlayStation 2) – Electronic Arts – 643,600
3. BioShock (Xbox 360) – Take-Two – 490,900
4. Madden NFL 08 (PlayStation 3) – Electronic Arts – 336,200
5. Wii Play (Wii) – Nintendo – 256,800
6. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) – Nintendo – 218,100
7. Mario Strikers: Charged (Wii) – Nintendo – 147,400
8. Guitar Hero 2 Bundle (PlayStation 2) – Activision – 145,400
9. Mario Party 8 (Wii) – Nintendo – 138,300
10. Guitar Hero Encore (PlayStation 2) – Activision – 127,100
No sales numbers for the rest:
11. Madden NFL 08 (Xbox) – Electronic Arts
12. Madden NFL 08 (Wii) – Electronic Arts
13. Brain Age 2 (DS) – Nintendo
14. Two Worlds (Xbox 360) – Southpeak
15. Pokemon Diamond (DS) – Nintendo
16. High School Musical: Makin’ The Cut (DS) – Disney
17. Guitar Hero 2 Bundle (Xbox 360) – Activision
18. Madden NFL 08 (PSP) – Electronic Arts
19. Pokemon Pearl (DS) – Nintendo
20. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Xbox 360) – Electronic Arts
