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August NPD: Madden Rules A Rough Month For Games
In news that's probably not surprising to many, the latest iteration of EA's ever-popular Madden franchise is at the top of the video game charts during a relatively slow August. Check below the break for all the official NPD stats from last month.
Both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Madden landed at the top, with nearly one million units sold on each system. Super Mario Galaxy 2 returns again, moving up one spot from last month. Look at the numbers carefully, though. There is a massive drop-off in number of units sold between the #2 and #3 slots this month.
Interestingly, NPD notes that if they were including PC games and digital downloads in their numbers, StarCraft II would have actually taken the #2 slot, with over 300,000 units sold at retail alone in August.
Mafia II took some high spots on the charts, which I'm sure Take Two is thankful for, but the game didn't actually sell astoundingly well when you look at the numbers. The rest of the this month's top ten is taken up by older titles that frequently return, including, astoundingly, both New Super Mario Bros. games placed right next to each other. So much Mario!
Here are the numbers:
1. Madden NFL 11 (360) - 920,800 units sold
2. Madden NFL 11 (PS3) - 893,600 units sold
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 124,600 units sold
4. Mafia II (360) - 121,600 units sold
5. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - 110,400 units sold
6. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
7. Mafia II (PS3)
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360)
9. NCAA Football 11 (360)
10. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
On the hardware side, the 360 remains on top, but everyone is down from last month. Check it out for yourself:
1. Xbox 360 - 356,700 units sold
2. Nintendo DS - 342,700 units sold
3. Wii - 244,300 units sold
4. PlayStation 3 - 226,000 units sold
5. PSP - 79,400 units sold
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