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NPD: Gaming growth slows in August

US retail sales top $1 billion to show 9 percent growth for the month; Madden takes four of top 10 software spots with more than 2 million sold in all.

Analysts have been warning for months that the explosive growth experienced by the gaming industry this year would slow down as the holiday season approached. The industry-tracking NPD Group released its sales data for the month of August today, and the numbers are starting to prove the analysts right.

According to last month's NPD data, US retailers brought in $1.08 billion in sales for August, up 9 percent from August 2007's total of $995 million. That total was itself a 46 percent jump year over year. Broken down by segment, hardware sales were up 3 percent to $395 million, while software was up 13 percent to nearly $551 million. Accessories kept pace with the games, jumping 13 percent to $137 million.

While analysts predicted a slowdown, it appears to be coming faster than anticipated. Earlier this week, a selection of industry trackers predicted software sales growth for August would be at least 20 percent.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier noted this as the first time in 27 months the industry has shown single-digit growth overall, and said 2008 is still looking strong overall.

"Despite smaller growth this month, the industry is up 32 percent year-to-date and remains on target to achieve annual revenues in the range of $22 to $24 billion," Frazier said.

On the hardware front, Nintendo's DS and Wii once more took the top two positions. The DS finished the month on top with 518,300 in sales, while the Wii trailed with 453,000. The next-best-selling platform for the month was the PlayStation Portable, which sold 253,000 units. Every remaining system failed to break the 200,000 mark, as the Xbox 360 moved 195,200 systems, putting it just above the PlayStation 3's 185,400. Last generation's workhorse, the PlayStation 2, rounded out the field with hardware sales of 144,100.

As expected, Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 09 took the software title, as the gridiron juggernaut occupied four slots on the top 10 list. The Xbox 360 addition topped the charts with 1 million units sold, followed by the PS3 edition in second place (643,000 sold) and the PS2 edition in third (424,500 sold). The Wii version of the game, with its "All Play" focus, managed to make it into ninth place, selling 115,800 copies.

Nintendo chased the main Maddens with its trio of perennial chart-squatters, as Wii Fit took fourth place (394,900 sold), Mario Kart Wii shifted into fifth (328,700 sold), and the Wii Play with Wii Remote bundle slipped to sixth with another 200,200 units sold.

The remaining spots in the top 10 were occupied by seventh place Soulcalibur IV for Xbox 360 (174,000 sold), Silicon Knights' Norse-inspired Xbox 360 action game Too Human (168,200 sold) in eighth, and Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS hitting the 10 spot with 111,200 sold.

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - AUGUST 2008
Software: $550.7M (+13%)
Hardware: $394.5M (+3%)
Accessories: $137.3M (+13%)
Total Games: $1.08B (+9%)

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - AUGUST 2008
Nintendo DS--518,300
Wii--453,000
PlayStation Portable--253,000
Xbox 360--195,200
PlayStation 3--185,400
PlayStation 2--144,100

TOP-SELLING SOFTWARE - AUGUST 2008
Title / Publisher / Units*
1) Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360) / Electronic Arts / 1,000,000
2) Madden NFL 09 (PS3) / Electronic Arts / 643,000
3) Madden NFL 09 (PS2) / Electronic Arts / 424,500
4) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (WII) / Nintendo / 394,900
5) Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel (WII) / Nintendo / 328,700
6) Wii Play w/ Remote (WII) / Nintendo / 200,200
7) Soulcalibur IV (Xbox 360) / Namco Bandai / 174,000
8) Too Human (Xbox 360) / Microsoft / 168,200
9) Madden NFL 09 (Wii) / Electronic Arts / 115,800
10) Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS) / Activision Blizzard / 111,200

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

113 Comments

  • white_jaguar

    Posted Sep 23, 2008 5:54 pm GMT

    Am I the only one who doesn't have a DS?

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 23, 2008 5:43 am GMT

    By 2012, they estimate that worldwide sales for Blu-Ray disks should hit about 57.4 million disks annually. Again...in 2007, 50 million PS3 games were sold. People need to stop saying the PS3 is being used only for Blu-Ray and actually look at the evidence.

  • darkride66

    Posted Sep 23, 2008 5:39 am GMT

    PhilipO38 said "please keep in mind a good amount of it's owners (PS3) are using it as a cheap Blu-Ray player."
    That's right, which is why Blu-Ray disks sell more than PS3 games. Waitaminute! That's not right. In 2007, over 50 million PS3 games were sold vs about 10 million Blu-Ray disks worldwide (and not all to PS3 owners). That would seem to indicate that the majority of people use the PS3 as...wait for it...a videogame console.

  • necronaux

    Posted Sep 19, 2008 9:23 am GMT

    Sure. Understandable. GTA and COD in the rearview, and the "holiday" season approaching, the next couple months will be slow.

  • PhilipO38

    Posted Sep 18, 2008 2:23 pm GMT

    The games sales per unit are far higher for the X360 then the PS3, as i believe the last numbers had ammount 3:1-4:1. Also, while the PS3 sales are close to the 360's, please keep in mind a good amount of it's owners are using it as a cheap Blu-Ray player. I'm sure the PS3 number would be under 100K each month this year, if it was not a Blu-Ray player as well as a game console. Always keep in mind, unlike the X360, the PS3 is surely not selling as a game console, only.

  • Rect_Pola

    Posted Sep 15, 2008 6:43 am GMT

    Everybody knows August is the butt of the industry's fiscal year, and everybody knows why. Although forcing your audience to choose to spend their limited dollars from a glut of titles is a twisted business sense, they still hold back over late summer for the fall and holiday season. From now till March-ish is the sweetest plum. They want their games established in stores and/or built plenty of buzz by the time gift-giving season rolls around.

  • blackace

    Posted Sep 15, 2008 1:16 am GMT

    Great_Ragnarok

    MS should offer their latest price drop to everywhere! not just the us
    *******************************************
    They are. The price drop was in Japan as well and M$ did a price drop in Europe earlier in the Spring.

  • jtthegame316

    Posted Sep 14, 2008 9:24 am GMT

    so the xbox 360 should beat the ps 3. the xbox 360 keeps you playing the ps3 just sits and gathers dust. lets face it the best ps 3 games are on xbox anyway for example call of duty 4 soul calibur 4 virtua fighter 5 dcm 4 and many others. but what gives the xbox the egde is exclsives like halo 3, too human and ninja gadien 2 as well as having quality old school games on xbox live arcade. lets face it the ps 3 is not a games console its a movie player. sony see the games playing as a bonus where as microsoft are focused on games and see movie playback as a bonus and that is how things should be.

  • ctg867

    Posted Sep 13, 2008 9:45 am GMT

    Given the fact that 4 of the 10 slots are taken up by casual garbage, I'm not even gonna bother to comment on the software, other then just to say that Madden sold a lot. How about NPD start giving the top 20 games the day they give the top 10 so I can find out what the real top 10 is.

    Anyway, both 360 and PS3 are down from last month, though since the PS3 dropped more, and I'd assume the 20GB Pro price drop reduced the 360 decrease, the 360 did end up beating the PS3, so props to Microsoft.

    So the PS3 is winning 5-3 this year in month by month NPD sales. The PS3 is at about 2.02 million units and the 360 at about 1.74 million units so far this year. The means the PS3 is winning by about 277k units, and comparatively it's about 1.16 to 1.00 ratio.

    Given that combined October through December sales are higher then combined January through September, that could all completely change, but as of now, that's where things are at. I don't know which of the Sony CEO's said it, but they very accurately predicted that this year the PS3 would win early on in Europe and Japan, and things would be a close race in the US, and that's exactly how it's turned out so far.

  • Agent-CSim-47

    Posted Sep 13, 2008 12:24 am GMT

    Theirs a reason why gaming has slowed down, it's because their was NO good game coming out. Most are out in October or November.

  • MaChaorules

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 8:23 pm GMT

    its amazing how much people buy madden every year...

  • Great_Ragnarok

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 4:20 pm GMT

    MS should offer their latest price drop to everywhere! not just the us.

  • jaydiz1994

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 2:58 pm GMT

    audioaxes Posted Sep 12, 2008 4:35 pm PT welp looks like 360 will beat PS3 this holiday

    Dude its 2 early 2 predicted that wat till October that is when we will have some clue of which one will sell more. PS i bet ps3 will with it strong line up this holiday season.

  • Hekynn

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 2:55 pm GMT

    Bah these guys missed out the PC hardware I'm sure people are buying PC's these days for the new upcoming PC games Like Far Cry 2 etc etc thats coming out in October

  • Disciple_Gamer

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 2:16 pm GMT

    It seems wii play will never leave the top ten. My hats off to the 360. Keep up the good work and maybe if time permits along with this economy pulling at my wallet, I can buy more games to play.

  • Disciple_Gamer

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 2:16 pm GMT

    It seems wii play will never leave the top ten. My hats off to the 360. Keep up the good work and maybe if time permits along with this economy pulling at my wallet, I can buy more games to play.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 1:49 pm GMT

    grigjd3 - PS2 has outsold PS3 some months. In the same way as DS and Wii are 'retro style gaming', obviously PS2 games can be considered 'retro'. Now add in the huge increase in interest in retro games on Xbox and PS3 'Live' and the growth in interest in PC retro gaming (via the success of www.gog.com) and you see there is a huge move away from modern video games to oldr games where gameplay is more prominant. The Wii and DS have shown gamers that PS2, retro PC and 8/16 bit style console graphics may be less, but gameplay is so much more, and just like with DS games especially, gameplay is what gamers want!

  • grigjd3

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 1:31 pm GMT

    You know what's really scary about it all, the PS3 and the 360 are dangerously close to being outsold by the PS2. You think there might be a point where they just decide to forget about the current gen and go back to the old one?

  • nintendog66

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 12:34 pm GMT

    "1) Madden NFL 09 (Xbox 360) / Electronic Arts / 1,000,0008) 8)Too Human (Xbox 360) / Microsoft / 168,200"

    Shows 360 owners buy crap too... and LOTS of it.

  • aBathingApe_

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 11:29 am GMT

    360 will outsell PS3 this holiday in HW & SW. Just wait and see.

  • akiwak

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 10:37 am GMT

    I think one of the reasons why we see the units difference between the 360 and PS3 is because NPD is tracking US sales figures only. The US installed base for 360 and PS3 is 2 to 1 alomost. For the 10million+ 360 owners (US) there is only 5million+ PS3 owners (US). Also Madden is the most popular US sport so yes lots of people in the US will buy, you don't have to be a harcore gamer to enjoy, just be a fan of the sport. I'm not a fan of fighting games but you will see me buy UFC Undisputed when it comes out in 09.
    I like seeing the Wii do well because now my good friends kids who would have never gamed had it not been for the Wii are asking to come over to play the PS3.
    The 360 did get a price drop in order to get rid of the 20GBXBOX so my hats off to MS.

  • blackace

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 10:15 am GMT

    The 360 was outselling the PS3 worldwide for 1 week in the July and 3 weeks in Aug, so it's not surprising that it took this month over the PS3. Sales are still a bit low, but it is summer. Also Too Human sold more copies then what VGChartz has posted. lol!! It still wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either like people were saying. Of course Madden topped the charts mainly because it's the ONLY NFL Football game on the market. If it actually had some competition, sales would be as high as they are now. It sucks that there are no other football games to play anymore.

  • Superdude475

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 10:06 am GMT

    How the hell is Wii-Play #6?

  • jknight5422

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 9:45 am GMT

    Too Human in the Top 10. Better than what anybody expected.

  • drsnobby65

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 9:36 am GMT

    loucetios i don,t beleive u gonna wait for gears 2 to appear on PC.ur gonna be a lonely while waiting for the PC version.i,m not buying ur comment.stop lying to youeself and buy the 360 version and join us in some xbox live fun LOL

  • audioaxes

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 8:35 am GMT

    welp looks like 360 will beat PS3 this holiday

  • helium_flash

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 8:32 am GMT

    I really wish they would take Wii Play out of the top 10. It is quite annoying.

  • Super-Mario-Fan

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 8:19 am GMT

    4 Wii games in the top 10 software chart? Yes!

  • Nineball2112

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 8:11 am GMT

    --Yuck_Too--

    I wouldn't disagree with you on that. I think you make sense and that you're right... this time. ;-)

  • -Intellectual-

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 8:00 am GMT

    how did Madden sell 1000000 on the X360 ?? it's the same game every year with minor improvements

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 7:50 am GMT

    --Nineball2112--
    I would say just from personal experience that the reason is XBL for the most part, in particular for the titles such as Madden NFL.

    Again I've not seen and specific numbers this is just my feelings on things, but XBL is much more connected in terms of its games.

    Combine that with a larger user base and the fact it's simply been around that much longer and people have much larger "friend" lists and the result becomes:

    All things being equal XBL swings the vote.

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 7:42 am GMT

    Surprised to see Too Human on there after all the average reviews it got. Same with the GH game for the DS. When World Tour comes out, thats going to sell a lot of copies. Pretty sick that Madden topped a million sales on the 360 in just two weeks.

  • Nineball2112

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 7:41 am GMT

    :
    Yuck_Too Actually it's been that way for a while and 3rd party developers know it.

    A multi-platform title will move about 50% more units on the 360 then it's PS3 counterpart.

    When you take in the total unit sales of both consoles it means a higher percentage of people who own both buy titles for the 360.


    That appears to be true, but why? I agree with the contention that its because of the larger X360 user base (due to the 1 - 1.5 year head start) rather than because those titles are better on the 360.

    Regardless, the multi-plat titles currently move more units on the 360.

    I honestly hope all systems (Wii, PS3 & X360)do well this gen. I want to have choices next gen too.

  • bioghost

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 7:31 am GMT

    Good strategy for the M$ to cut the price
    Good sales for Nintendo because of its console
    Good games for Sony for its blu ray technology
    I think gaming industry will rise as gamers crave for more

  • Lauryn2000

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 7:30 am GMT

    About time the PSP started getting some positive news!

  • ParisSun

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:56 am GMT

    BTW, I expected the 360 to jump ahead in next months figures due to the price drop. What drove the jump ahead this month? It surely coundn't be that mess Too Human.

  • ParisSun

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:51 am GMT

    What in the hell? Who's buying all these Wiis?

  • Makaatsu

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:48 am GMT

    So the 360 beat the PS3 before the price cut, that is impressive. The price cut came into effect on the 7th after it was announced on the 3rd. So i guess we can expect September to be the same. With the way the world economy is right now i think those are not too bad sales across the board.
    If the rumours are true that the 360 has increased sales in September by over 150% then we might see a PS3 sales cut by xmas i'd guess.

  • NA3D

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:43 am GMT

    Economy has issues, games are not up to par but cost $60, employment is down, and this is expected, and the industry will rebound in a few years. I doubt it will have negative growth.

    PS - Edit feature may be broke on this site, so make sure your post is right the first time, you may not be able to edit it.

  • NA3D

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:39 am GMT

    I would say where the problem is, but I would get censored by GS. That, plus that fact that the industry is finally getting the hit every other industry in the world got earlier this year, this was expected for anyone that knows how to analyze information like this.

    Economy has issues, games are not up to par buy cost $60 a pop, employment is down, and so much more. This is expected, and it will rebound in a year or 2.

  • Ace77765

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:24 am GMT

    I mean really what came out as groundbreaking in august? besides soul calibur and madden. People are getting ready for oct and nov then the holidays

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:19 am GMT

    --Nineball2112--
    Actually it's been that way for a while and 3rd party developers know it.

    A multi-platform title will move about 50% more units on the 360 then it's PS3 counterpart.

    When you take in the total unit sales of both consoles it means a higher percentage of people who own both buy titles for the 360.

  • normsta

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:18 am GMT

    LOL, it slows down... NEVER FEAR THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS HERE!!! With 10 to 15 AAA titles coming out just in September and October I'm 100% sure this slow down will no last a second. HA I beat you to it NDP.

    @mysterylobster
    And you know this for a fact right.... it's comming to windows M$ wants money and theres money to be maid in the PC market.

  • poonus21

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:17 am GMT

    @ Loucetios

    sorry to break it ya buddy. but Epic already confirmed that they are not making a PC version.

  • Yuck_Too

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 6:08 am GMT

    I am somewhat surprised the 360 outsold the PS3 this month since so many people were holding off for the price drops.

    I'm also still surprised at how much the PS3 numbers swing up and down every month and thought they would have been more stable at this point.

  • mysterylobster

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 5:59 am GMT

    "why would i buy a 360 for Gears 2 when my PC can run the Unreal Engine perfectly, all I gotta do is wait a few months and i get a tweaked version on my PC"

    Gears 2 isn't coming to Windows.

  • Nineball2112

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 5:39 am GMT

    Wow... the DS moved some units, as well as the PSP!

    Less than a 10,000 unit difference between X360 and the PS3... I expect that difference to increase next month (and through the end of the year) because of the price cuts on the 360's.

    But, it's going to be fairly close no matter what and I think the new titles coming out in the next few months for the PS3 might help offset the expected difference.

    The Wii is STILL rolling along! It's interesting that Madden sold about the same between the MS unit (360) and both Sony units (PS3 and PS2).

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 5:35 am GMT

    These fanboy arguments are starting to get old. I could make a list of awesome games that are coming out for both consoles by the end of this year, But I just don't care anymore. I own both now, and love them both. Honestly though, maybe it's just my gaming preference, but I really don't see a reason why the Wii is selling so well. I guess it's because I could be classified as a "hardcore" gamer (i think these titles are almost as ridiculous as fanboys). No More Heroes, Brawl, SMG, Metroid and Legend of Zelda. Those are the only games on that system that I own and interest me. Same with a lot of my friends who game as well. The Wii hardware might be selling really well, but they never have more than two games in the top ten (wii play doesn't count as a game). You know why? Because of all the ridiculous amounts of shovelware.

    So that was my Wii rant. Anyways on the topic of the article, August is always a slow month. Normally the only game released is Madden, and that trend hasn't stopped this year. But I don't see the growth of the industry slowing down much more. September maybe, since the only good games i know that are coming out that month are Star wars and SOCOM. October will be a huge month because of the 5-6 AAA titles that are coming out that month. And November has a ton of console exclusives coming out. Fall is looks like it's going to be extremely draining on my wallet.

  • TenAkuma

    Posted Sep 12, 2008 5:10 am GMT

    I'm not disappointed in my PS3. But if I had a 360, I probably wouldn't be disappointed either. Honestly, I just don't have so much play time that I would get bored with either system. There's always something good to play.

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