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ChartSpot: August 2009

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Sep 14, 2009 1:43 pm PT

Madden, Wii Sports Resort, Batman stand atop console top 20, while the Sims and World of Warcraft duke it out for PC supremacy...again.

Last Thursday, the NPD Group released its August US game-industry figures, which showed a 25 percent decrease in game software sales. (Overall, the US game industry decreased by 16 percent.) Now, the company has released its charts of the top 20 PC and non-PC games for the month, which revealed a broader picture of how publishers' latest wares stacked up.

Gamers weren't too keen on tackling Madden on the Wii.

As shown in the non-PC top 10 released with the industry figures, Madden NFL 10 was the best-selling game of August, followed by Wii Sports Resort and Batman Arkham Asylum. The top 20 showed the Wii version of the football sim--which sold only 66,600 copies, landed in 17th place--with the PSP edition of the game nowhere to be found. Other underwhelming debuts included Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS, 16th), and Wolfenstein (360, 18th).

Over on the PC chart, the usually tit-for-tat Sims-vs.-World of Warcraft battle for supremacy saw the Sims 3 prevail over the Wrath of the Lich King WOW expansion pack for the top slot. However, the chart was shaken up by the casual compilation Mumbo Jumbo Assortment, which came in fourth at an average retail price of $3. Right behind it was another newcomer, the Final Fantasy XI: Starter Pack, which had an even lower price--$1.99 at retail, but a $0.00 average cost, according to NPD. The pack lets players install the venerable massively multiplayer online role-playing game and play for a month gratis.

Wolfenstein's sales were a shadow of the series' onetime popularity.

Finally, as previously reported, Activision and Raven Software's reboot of the classic id Software franchise Wolfenstein fared poorly with the original's core PC audience. The game sold barely more than 17,000 units on the PC, good enough for a seventh-place finish on the PC charts. On all platforms, the game sold just 106,000 units in the US in the five days after its August 25 release.

TOP-SELLING NON-PC GAMES - AUGUST 2009
Last Month / Rank / Title / Platform / Publisher / Units
** / 1 / Madden NFL 10 / 360 / Electronic Arts / 928,000
1 / 2 / Wii Sports Resort w/ Wii Motion Plus / Wii / Nintendo / 754,000
** / 3 / Madden NFL 10 / PS3 / Electronic Arts / 665,000
** / 4 / Batman: Arkham Asylum / 360 / Square Enix / 303,000
** / 5 / Batman: Arkham Asylum / PS3 / Square Enix / 290,000
** / 6 / Madden NFL 10 / PS2 / Electronic Arts / 160,000
** / 7 / Dissidia: Final Fantasy / PSP / Square Enix / 130,000
4 / 8 / Wii Fit / Wii / Nintendo / 128,000
5 / 9 / Mario Kart Wii w/ Wheel / Wii / Nintendo / 120,000
** / 10 / Fossil Fighters / DS / Nintendo / 92,000
6 / 11 / Mario Kart DS / DS / Nintendo
9 / 12 / New Super Mario Bros / DS / Nintendo
12 / 13 / Wii Play w/ Remote / Wii / Nintendo
8 / 14 / Pokemon Platinum Version / DS / Nintendo
2 / 15 / NCAA Football 10 / 360 / Electronic Arts
** / 16 / Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box / DS / Nintendo
** / 17 / Madden NFL 10 / Wii / Electronic Arts
** / 18 / Wolfenstein / 360 / Activision Blizzard
10 / 19 / EA Sports Active / Wii / Electronic Arts
11 / 20 / Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 / Wii / Electronic Arts

TOP-SELLING PC GAMES - AUGUST 2009
Last Month / Rank / / Title / Publisher / Average price
1 / 1 / The Sims 3 / Electronic Arts / $49
3/ 2 / World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King / Blizzard / $39
4 / 3/ The Sims 2 Double Deluxe / Electronic Arts / $20
** /4 / Mumbo Jumbo Assortment / Mumbo Jumbo / $3
**/ 5 / Final Fantasy XI: Starter Pack / Square Enix / $0
5 / 6 / World of Warcraft: Battle Chest / Blizzard / $39
**/ 7 / Wolfenstein / Activision / $49
8 / 8 / World of Warcraft / Blizzard / $20
6 / 9 / Spore / Electronic Arts / $40
2 / 10 / Nancy Drew: Ransom of The Seven Ships / Her Interactive / $20
9 /11 / Starcraft: Battle Chest / Blizzard / $19
7 / 12 / Spore Galactic Adventures / Electronic Arts / $30
10 / 13 / World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade / Blizzard / $30
11 / 14 / Empire: Total War / Sega/ $44
12 / 15 / Warcraft III Battle Chest / Blizzard / $39
15 / 16 / Diablo Battle Chest / Blizzard / $40
13 / 17 / Civilization IV: Complete Edition / 2K Games / $40
14 / 18 / Sim City Box / Electronic Arts / $20
18 / 19 / Reel Deal Slots Adventure / Phantom EFX / $20
17 / 20 / Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY Ed. / 2K Games/ $20

67 Comments

  • Gamesterpheonix

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 2:40 pm PT

    lol how is Starcraft still selling? Do people play online? Dont they get mercilessly killed and humiliated? And how is Empire still selling? Its still broken...And how is Diablo still selling? Its a great game but...seriously? Are there not other more popular games? And I wish...somehow...that Batman AA had some sort of multi...lol.

  • chuamishael

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 11:05 am PT

    Why is WOW and the SIMS always sell so high... I could understand the sims3. but I never play World of warcraft... blizzard is a lucky company. they always earn.

  • Dualmask

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 10:46 am PT

    @Javieralijandro, even if Square Enix had made Batman AA (they didn't), you would seriously return/abandon a great game like that based solely upon what company made it?

    I don't know about most gamers, but the last thing I care about is who a game's developer is. If the game is good, I take interest. I don't care if it's Square, Capcom, Activision, EA or some indie developer.

  • lbgreat

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 10:28 am PT

    1.5 Million sold for Madden between PS3 and XBOX 360 that's not shabby. Especially for a game that can't even reach a 8 rating. I usually don't even buy games unless they are a 8.5 and up. Madden is a powerhouse rather they deserve it or not.

  • kamizuka

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 9:57 am PT

    they sold 303k B-Man:AA for 360 and 290k for ps3? Well OFC! because there is more 360 users in the (((US)))) than the ps3 users in America

  • Tainshy

    Posted Sep 16, 2009 8:38 am PT

    @Nautilus
    Square-Enix owns Eidos

  • Nautilus1515

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 7:20 pm PT

    @javieralijandro
    Square Enix had no part of the batman game, that is definitely a typo. Eidos published the game

  • xxscammersxx

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 2:21 pm PT

    @jsmoke03

    Unfortunately, infamous has been selling rather poorly.

  • Javieralijandro

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 12:57 pm PT

    dang it square enix made the awesome batman or published it i mean, dang now i have to return it -.- just because its published by them..

  • Darkmoone1

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 12:32 pm PT

    The fact that ESIV Oblivion is still in there proves that the fans want more.

  • jsmoke03

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 11:52 am PT

    i'm really surprised infamous is nowhere to be found on this list after released 2 months ago...

  • daabulls23

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 10:11 am PT

    The Starcraft: Battlechest is still there! And that has been out forever! (Or what seems like it).

  • peetowser

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 9:40 am PT

    Talking about a 0.1 difference in a game score is irrelevant when the figures they report are a hundred of thousand copies off on something solid like units sold... Sure I get your point that MAYBE it was a little better than the 360 game, but it's still all subjective to whoever reviews said game.

    Sales however are not subjective, they are cold solid numbers. If they are to do things like these charts, might as well get their facts straight.

  • XeonForce

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 9:01 am PT

    That "Mumbo Jumbo Assortment" is selling because every GameStop in the country has a cardboard box with those games in them on the counter.

    Glad to see Batman AA is selling well though.

  • Kleeyook

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 8:49 am PT

    I bet that PC chart next year will remain 70% the same.

  • TevoxZi

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 8:17 am PT

    @BuiltForSin
    For example: Oblivion got 0.1 lower score on Playstation 3, while having a longer draw-distance, smaller loading times & faster ones as well. Graphics were pretty much identical, yet the lightning effect on the shield especially was noticeably better on PS3.

    Yet still they gave it 0.1 lower.
    What else? -> Always so much hype for 360 -games, when they make PS3 -games look lame by putting boring pictures into every anticipated game and fill in something like "headshots made more realistic" when a headshot has always killed the person in the certain game -serie. Pretty much every multiplatform game they display is marked on as 360 -game in the news -article and when it's a bad game, yet a multiplatform; that's when they display the PS3 -case of the game.

    That's two of the many reasons why I feel like how I said. In either case; not that I care much, they're just reviews. It depends on YOU, do YOU like the game.

    P.S. Also that in the "Game Hero" -thing, when anyone said bad things about Master Chief, those comments got removed, but if it was of a PS3 -character, then no. That's how I see them being sided instead of being exactly fair to both of them.

  • BuiltForSin

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 7:58 am PT

    @TevoxZi - What ever could have given you that impression? I wonder if it was Bill Gates teabags resting on each editor's chin whenever they do a news story or review over the last few years that gave it away.. lol

  • TevoxZi

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 5:50 am PT

    @peetowser

    Well, I haven't really trusted anything GameSpot says these days. For some reason I'm really starting to think they're a little biased for 360.

  • peetowser

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 5:06 am PT

    I laughed how here at GS the Xbox edition of Arkham sold more than the PS3 one... The numbers @ vgchartz.com say 435,358 for PS3 and 414,434 for Xbox for totals... more than a 100,000 units difference for both versions with what we see here...

  • Petri87

    Posted Sep 15, 2009 4:50 am PT

    @BuiltForSin - Can I just ask how thats a surprice? Did you honestly think a game whit zero marketing would be a big seller?

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