NPD: NCAA Football sacks July

EA's collegiate pigskin sim scores top honors as 41 percent spike in total software sales push US industry to $1.2 billion in revenue for the month.

Gaming industry analysts have been having a tough time getting a read on monthly sales figures, but for the month of July, it looks like at least a few are getting a hang of the volatile jumps in year-over-year revenue climbs. With its monthly sales report for the month of July out today, the NPD Group revealed that, once again, the industry outpaced 2007 by double digit figures, rising 28 percent in total hardware, software, and accessory sales to $1.2 billion for the month.

Though it was a comparatively light month for new releases at retail, software still accounted for the largest chunk of that haul and hit quite close to analysts' estimations. For July, software spiked 41 percent compared to the same time a year ago, amounting to $591 million in sales.

With perennial chart topper Madden NFL out in August, the first of EA's annual gridiron volleys--NCAA Football 09--slotted into the first and fifth positions of the US sales chart, with the Xbox 360 edition outpacing the PlayStation 3 version, 397,600 units to 242,500. Namco Bandai's Soulcalibur IV also found more footing on Microsoft's console compared to its competitor, with 218,900 units of the well-reviewed fighter slashing to the 360 compared to 155,800 on the PS3.

Save for Take-Two's Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution eking out a 10th place finish on the 360 with 147,600 units sold, the remainder of the month's top 10 belonged to games for Nintendo's platforms. Meanwhile, Wii Fit proved to have legs enough to land a second-place finish with 369,600 units, and Activision's Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS took the bronze with 309,700 units. Surprisingly, Konami's PS3-exclusive critical darling Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots dropped out of the top 10 entirely in its second month on the market, after having easily secured the top slot in June.

While Microsoft roundly thumped Sony in software sales, it was the PlayStation 3 that once again outpaced its most adversarial competitor in July. Despite Microsoft slashing $50 from its midline Xbox 360 Pro, Sony's PlayStation 3's cross-SKU sales amounted to 224,900 units, a step above the 360's 204,800 systems. Nestled in between the two, Sony's PlayStation Portable sold 221,700 units.

As has become de rigueur from NPD sales stats, Nintendo's hardware took top honors, with the DS topping out at 608,400 systems and the Wii dropping 111,000 units under last month's total to a decidedly less nefarious 555,000 units.

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - JULY 2008
Software: $591.1M (+41%)
Hardware: $446.9M (+17%)
Accessories: $149.1M (+19%)
Total Games: $1.19B (+28%)

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - JULY 2008
Nintendo DS--608,400
Wii--555,000
PlayStation 3--224,900
PlayStation Portable--221,700
Xbox 360--204,800
PlayStation 2--155,500

TOP-SELLING SOFTWARE - JULY 2008
Title / Publisher / Release Date / Units*
1) NCAA Football 09 (Xbox 360) / Electronic Arts / 397,600
2) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (WII) / Nintendo / 369,600
3) Guitar Hero On Tour (DS) / Activision / 309,700
4) Wii Play w/ Remote (WII) / Nintendo / 284,000
5) NCAA Football 09 (PS3) / Electronic Arts / 242,500
6) Soulcalibur IV (Xbox 360) / Namco Bandai / 218,900
7) Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (WII) / Nintendo / 174,500
8) Rock Band Special Edition Bundle (WII) / MTV Games and Electronic Arts / 165,800
9) Soulcalibur IV (PS3) / Namco Bandai / 155,800
10) Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360) / Take-Two / 147,600

* Figures include Collector's Editions and non-hardware bundles.

47 Comments

  • optimusprime18

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 4:04 pm PT

    SINCE WHEN DOES HOW MANY PEOPLE BOUGHT INTO SOMETHING MEAN A GIVEN PRODUCT IS BETTER? MORE PEOPLE VOTED FOR GEORGE W. BUSH IN '00 AND '04 AND LOOK WHAT A F***-UP HE TURNED OUT TO BE. JUST BECAUSE MORE OF YOU IDIOTS OWN AN OBJECT DOESN'T MEAN ITS MAGICALLY THE BEST THING ON EARTH

  • blackace

    Posted Aug 20, 2008 3:49 pm PT

    No doubt Sony's PS3 will probably catch the XBox 360, but by the time it does, it will be irrelevant. It's not going to matter much as the XBox 360 will have already been a complete success and M$ will be working on releasing the next XBox system with Blu-Ray or some other HD format disc. As long as M$ keeps getting their system out first before Nintendo & Sony, they will do just fine. M$ still needs to acquire some better developers. EA talking about buying out Take_Two, Microsoft should buy EA. LOL!! An hostile takeover of EA would be fun to watch. I like to see their Execs squirm for awhile.

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Aug 18, 2008 6:06 pm PT

    Only 20k more for the PS3 over the 360?...so much for the downfall of MS.

  • sillycatsteven

    Posted Aug 17, 2008 11:05 pm PT

    the only reason SC4 on xbox out sold ps3 was because ps3 verson costs 10~20% more than xbox verson... stupid Sony... stupid Microsoft...

  • bandarman

    Posted Aug 17, 2008 8:28 pm PT

    Another article another fanboy debate!
    You're ought to see fanboys crying over their consoles as soon as you put two sacred words in an article together...
    PS3 and X360!

  • alz619

    Posted Aug 17, 2008 6:11 pm PT

    The 360 is cheap enough. and outsells ps3 on most occasions. ps3 has one good month and the whole world has to know about it. How many months has the xbox out sold the ps3 and at one point the wii.

  • SalarianChemist

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 11:21 am PT

    Xbox 360 outsold Playstation 3 by a ratio of 2.5:1 in Japan this month!

    Due to the release of Namco's RPG called Tales of Vesperia, the Xbox 360 has ONCE AGAIN outsold the Playstation 3 in JAPAN!!!

    Tales of Vesperia on Xbox 360 sold 108,000 copies in its first week in Japan, which was more than the COMBINED sales of Soul Caliber 4 on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

    Xbox 360 sold 24,962 systems in Japan, while Playstation 3 only sold 9,673 systems!

    Here's the proof:

    hxxp://www.edge-online.com/news/japan-xbox-360-outsells-ps3-25-1

    ...Ya know what this means: When you add up the numbers for North America and Japan, the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are EQUAL for July...then factor in that the Xbox 360 outsold Playstation 3 in Europe, and Xbox 360 comes out ahead.

  • MetalMan300

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 6:22 am PT

    Im not exactly shocked that MGS4 dropped off the top ten. Its kinda overrated...

  • blackace

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 8:05 pm PT

    I think people are waiting for the Arcade to drop to $199 before people rush out and get it. It's still summertime as well and not many gamers are thinking about buying a game console right now. 200K units sold for a month is very low for any game console. The fact that there may be another price drop in Sept for the 360 may be keeping people waiting for that time. It's still surprising that the PS3 outsold the 360 in July, but MGS4 was probably the reason why that happened. These figures just show how off VGChartz figures are every week. Next month they will have the PS3 outselling the 360 in the U.S. and the NPD will have the 360 beating the PS3. As long as there are new games for both systems every month, I'm happy. Leave the sales figures to Sony and Microsoft to worry about.

  • miiiguel

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 2:29 pm PT

    er... yes, at his rate Sony only needs 200 months to reach 360 numbers. Oh wait... just saw Japan's numbers, make it 350 months.

  • sparkypants

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 12:48 pm PT

    wow new price cut and sony still manages to top the 360. Sonys been topping the 360 for some time now, Im starting to think the PS3 might hit second place!

  • Sacred-Snow

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 10:08 am PT

    This is good, I suppose.

  • Tandem_Toad

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 9:28 am PT

    Microsoft needs to bring on a better price cut for the all the 360 sku's if they want to start out selling the PS3 again!

  • Nineball2112

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 9:01 am PT

    Sins-of-Mosin posted: "It's a fact that the PS3 is still the best blu-ray player so naturally they are going to sell well."

    That's true. And that's a good thing. With great movies like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and other movies that will be coming out on Blu-Ray this holiday season, that will also help increase PS3 sales.

    There are going to be some killer games coming out for the PS3 this fall too! So, no matter how you spin it, PS3 users have the best of BOTH worlds! Great games AND great Blu-Ray movies.... Life is sweet.

  • ThisIsntLeonard

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 8:43 am PT

    Not seeing MGS4 on the top-ten isn't too surprising, seeing as GTA4 fell off within about a month too. And with the release of Madden 09 this month, you probably won't see a lot of these titles up next month (except for Wii Fit and the horde of DS games). People just tend to buy games quick these days. Plus it's easier to save up for a game when it gets delayed a few times.

  • Nineball2112

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 8:06 am PT

    Well, I can honestly say that the hardware sales surprised me. I really thought the X360 would have a bit more sales than the PS3.

    And the PSP put up some good numbers too I see.

    Look, we as gamers have to be happy that total games are up a whopping 28% over this time last year.

    The gaming industry just keeps growing and that's good news for ALL of us.

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 7:57 am PT

    It's a fact that the PS3 is still the best blu-ray player so naturally they are going to sell well. In terms of gamers actually buying it, look at the software sales and that will tell you where the gamers are. Plus, MGS4 last only one month on the top 10 sales charts.

    Bottom line is that at least half of PS3 buyers are not buying games. I'm sure MS knows this and I'm sure devs know this too. Thats why MS isn't dropping the price like mad and thats why devs still count the PS3 as #2.

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 6:27 am PT

    Where did MGS4 go?

  • atomD21

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 5:13 am PT

    @azad champ - *I was wondering where MGS4 went on that list too. I'm wondering if it's a case of everyone who really wanted it got it day one, and then sales after that dropped off a cliff. I have no doubt it's still selling, just at a greatly reduced rate.* As for the hardware numbers, who really cares which console sold more last month? So long as you have the console(s) you want, just enjoy the gaming and don't get o worried if your favorite isn't number one all the time.

  • grognard

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 3:40 am PT

    @mandingo - that was a temporary clearance sale just on the PRO SKU - not a price drop (Like Sony did to clear out inventory of their old SKU temporarily). The real price drop across all three SKU's occurs on Sept. 7th.

  • Irve

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 2:23 am PT

    Hmmm , think MS really need to address the sales here .. either people aren't tempted by a cheaper 20gb and waited for the 60gb ... or the 360 still seriously needs a permanent price cut ! PS3 being outsold 2-1 by the Wii ... well to be honest at almost double the price that's not too worrying .. Still can't believe all these people are going out and buying the Wii .... it's crazy .. they don't even buy the good games for it either !! ... well with the exception of Mario Kart !!

  • azad_champ

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 12:19 am PT

    These numbers are an abomination to gaming. First off, Where's MGS4?!?!
    Second, 8 of the top ten games are casual games intended for the nongamer.

    /facepalm

  • -Intellectual-

    Posted Aug 15, 2008 12:03 am PT

    an extra 20,000 sold isn't a huge difference

  • HK-47-M4

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 11:24 pm PT

    Bias aside, it's really a bit embarrassing to Microsoft that they didn't beat Sony in July, they are going to have a tough time spinning that one. Still they can brag about software sales. And of course Nintendo doesn't have to spin anything!

  • slim_jimmy21

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 11:16 pm PT

    360 needs a bigger price drop. ms needs to look for the big picture as in future buyers not just try and earn little profits on each system sold. if they keep this up they will lose the softwear lead. then they are dead meat..

  • slim_jimmy21

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 11:16 pm PT

    360 needs a bigger price drop. ms needs to look for the big picture as in future buyers not just try and earn little profits on each system sold. if they keep this up they will lose the softwear lead. then they are dead meat..

  • slim_jimmy21

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 11:15 pm PT

    360 needs a bigger price drop. ms needs to look for the big picture as in future buyers not just try and earn little profits on each system sold. if they keep this up they will lose the softwear lead. then they are dead meat..

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 10:29 pm PT

    i knew those analyst were wrong when they said 360 would reclaim the lead of wii and or ds lol and even ps3 and psp ,, , microsoft is losing steam

  • PS_Family posted Aug 14, 2008 9:54 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    PS_Family

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 9:54 pm PT (hide)

    I estimate that at least 50k 360s were replacements so even the PS2 outsells it in July.

  • Mandingo101

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 9:08 pm PT

    grognard, there was a price drop, didnt you read the article lol? and what happened....

  • slimjim2575

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 8:28 pm PT

    Only game I bought that is on this list is...Mario Kart

  • Pete5506

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 8:07 pm PT

    I didnt like this years NCAA football

  • xblane

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 7:49 pm PT

    While I don't 'play' Wii Fit often, I do use it every day for a body test, and I'm quite happy with the money that I spent on it and am looking forward to some of the other titles that will be using, like Shaun White snowboarding.

  • FrankenLife

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 7:10 pm PT

    I can't believe that so many people are clamoring for a little white thing that you stand on.

  • Loucetios

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 7:01 pm PT

    bawathegamer

    its more like 20k units between the ps3 and 360, where did you get 3,200 from?

  • ocdog45

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 6:41 pm PT

    this was obvious. what kills me is how people can stand this game with so many glitches.

  • Nintendo_Man

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 6:31 pm PT

    A big surprise to see the 360 not beat the PS3 with the price drop.

  • grognard

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 5:46 pm PT

    @makaatsu - what do you mean? Blitz The League isn't coming out next month!

  • grognard posted Aug 14, 2008 5:43 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    grognard

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 5:43 pm PT (hide)

    Interesting that MGS4 already fell out of the top ten. The MGS4 spike is obviously over for PS3 as it's back to previous monthly numbers.

    Good to see CivRev crack the top ten - I suspect this is a title that will have legs and sell respectably for several months thanks to positive word of mouth. I suspect the Sept. 360 price drop will result in a repeat of last Holiday where 360 enjoys a commanding lead (360 sold more in December of last year alone than PS3 has outsold 360 all of this year combined).
    Amazing that all three consoles (and software) continue to move at a brisk pace despite the heavy recession.

  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 5:32 pm PT

    Staring off with hardware, the DS and Wii unsurprisingly take the top two spots. Though what I didn't expect is the PS3 to be leading over the 360. I thought the $50 price drop on the 20GB Pro would have helped put them over the PS3, but surprisingly it didn't. The PS3 outsold the 360 by slightly more then 20k units (1.1 to 1 ratio).

    Though what really gets me is that the PSP beat it by almost 17k units (1.08 to 1 ratio), and the PS2 was only beat by 49k units (1.32 to 1 ratio). Microsoft better make sure that their price drop is coming soon, or that their holiday is much bigger then Sony's, otherwise they will be beat by the PS3 in 2008 US sales, which is big since they're getting destroyed in worldwide sales this year.

    As for Sony, I do hope that the rumor that they've found a way to put BC back into the 40GB (and thus the new Core 80GB) is true, because that would add more value to the console, and hopefully help increase sales even more. On the PS2 front if they can drop the price to $99, they'll keep selling those things until the end of 2010.

    Moving onto software, not surprised to see NCAA at the top, and good to see the PS3 version up there at number 5 as well (155k higher on 360, 1.64 to 1 ratio). I expected to see Soul Calibur IV up there as well, though I wasn't sure if the PS3 version would make it due to the short time it was on sale, though it did (63k higher on 360, 1.41 to 1 ratio).

    Then we got Rock Band on Wii, which is actually pretty surprising to see. Kinda feel bad for those guys since the next game is coming out five months after the first one released. And finally, it is just great news to see Civ Rev making the top 10. I really doubted it was gonna make it, but I'm really happy that it did, even though it was just barely.

    Or should I say top 6, since I can't remember the last time any actual gamer gave a **** about Wii Fit, Guitar Hero On Tour, Wii Play, or Mario Kart Wii. Mario Kart and On Tour had some real gamer following, but it's all but dead now the casuals rushing in to pick those up. Anyway, I wanna see what the top 20 isso I can make some comments on it, and actually see what the "real" top 10 would be. I'll be sure to comment when I do.

    @ bawathegamer

    The difference between the PS3 and 360 is 20,100 units. The difference between the PS3 and PSP is 3,200 units (yes, the means the PSP outsold the 360 yet again). Next time, take the time to make sure you read correctly before you rush to get first post or just make some sly comment.

  • metalkid9

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 5:18 pm PT

    I think the nintendo sales drop was predicted for the near future but not yet. and who buys Football games??!!

  • Makaatsu

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 5:06 pm PT

    Well 1st things 1st people will ignore the fact the PS3 actually dropped over 50% from last months numbers while the 360 increased. However that a side i doubt many if any thought the PS3 would beat the 360 this month with the 360 price drop (if it can be called that). So i think the PS3 deserves a bit of praise for beating it! Also the actual games market needs praise for proving all the analysts who said it would drop during summer wrong, it was up +41% and that is amazing! And those numbers will increase now for the rest of the year. Think it is safe to assume a american football game will be top next month too

    Also want to say ioi on VGChartz was MAJOR wrong with his predictions towards the PS3 and 360. So much for his "reliable source", what a idiot.

    And gratz on the site changes Gamespot i think they look better!

  • ss3zolo

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 5:06 pm PT

    mmm.. interesting

  • bawathegamer posted Aug 14, 2008 4:43 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    bawathegamer

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 4:43 pm PT (hide)

    Difference between Ps3 and 360 sales is 3,200. I Have a feeling theres going to be alot of fanboy bashing in here irrespective of that fact.

    I never knew Ncaa football was that popular.Good for them.

    Does anyone think the Ds or Wii will ever slow down? I mean it seems for nintendo there is no "saturation" point.

  • wiifan001

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 4:42 pm PT

    The Wii and DS are on top once again

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