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August 2015 NPD: Madden Is King And Until Dawn Has A Solid Showing
August didn't have too many surprises with Madden performing well and Minecraft still on top. It was nice to see Until Dawn make it into the top ten after being considered by most to be a niche title.
You can find the best-selling titles below with platforms listed in order of sales. Minecraft jumped from number three last month to number two, and Madden took the top slot. Other holdovers from last month include Grand Theft Auto V, Lego: Jurassic World, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. Batman saw a significant drop from number two to number nine.
- Madden NFL 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
- Minecraft (360, PS3, XBO, PS4)
- Gears Of War Ultimate Ed (XBO)
- Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC)
- LEGO: Jurassic World (360, 3DS, NWU, PS3, XBO, PS4, PSV)
- Rare Replay (XBO)
- Until Dawn (PS4)
- Call Of Duty: Black Ops Combo Pack (360, PS3)
- Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4, XBO)
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC)
Overall, sales of new physical software, hardware, and accessories declined 2% compared to last year. Accessory sales alone rose 12%, but software sales dropped 10%.
Sales on last-gen consoles continue decline dropping 61% compared to 2014, while new-gen consoles climbed 3%. Portable consoles climbed 4% last month.
Sales of new-gen games rose 34%, but sales of last-gen games dropped 51%. The sale of portable games also dropped last month by 24%.
A curious statistic this month, which NPD attributes to retailers clearing inventory for the impending barrage of toys to life games like Lego Dimensions, Skylanders: Superchargers, and Disney Infinty 3.0, is the drop in price of interactive toy gaming accessories. It's unlikely these prices will remain lower.
Both Microsoft and Sony had statements regarding its platforms. Sony's PlayStation 4 was the top selling console last month. “We would like to thank our fans and partners for their ongoing support of PlayStation and for making PS4 the top selling console and #1 in software sales in North America in August. We continue to demonstrate our commitment to delivering the best content line-up with the launch of first-party exclusives like Until Dawn and third-party titles like Madden NFL 16, which sold more on PS4 than any other platform."
Microsoft may not have won the console battle in August, but it did have more exclusives in the top 10 list, which it highlighted with its comment from corporate vice president Mike Nichols. Nichols is excited about Xbox One's holiday,saying "it kicked off in August with the releases of ‘Rare Replay’ and ‘Gears of War: Ultimate Edition,’ the first of seven must-play games coming exclusively to Xbox One this year."
For NPD's July numbers, head here.
Our Take
Until Dawn was written off by most as being something very cool that will take some time to be appreciated, but it looks like there is demand for a interactive horror video game with excellent visuals. Until Dawn was in development for quite some time, and after playing through it and having a great time with it, I am glad to see it sitting at number seven on the list above. It's more than I expected for Until Dawn and I am happy to be surprised.
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