August 2019 Game Sales In The US Just Reached A New Low Not Seen In 21 Years
The last time an August was this bad was when Air Bud: Golden Receiver was in theatres in 1998.
The NPD Group released its report for August 2019 US video game industry sales, providing a look at the health of the business in the states across consoles, games, and accessories.
Total spending on video game software in August 2019 dropped 22 percent to $257 million compared to August 2018, making it the worst software performance in an August month since August 1998 ($234 million). However, year-to-date dollar sales of video games in the US jumped 1 percent to $3.1 billion, with Nintendo Switch attributing to the uptick in sales.
Madden NFL 20 was August 2019's best-seller, holding on the No. 1 position for a second straight month. Overall, Madden NFL 20 is the third best-selling game of 2019 so far, only behind Kingdom Hearts III and Mortal Kombat 11.
Also notable for August 2019 was that Minecraft was the No. 2 best-seller for August 2019, and that represents the highest the game has ever charted on NPD's US sales charts.
One of August 2019's new releases, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, debuted at No. 15, and its first-month sales were higher than any other title's in the franchise's history. Another noteworthy takeaway from the report is that five of the 10 top-selling games in August 2019 were Nintendo Switch exclusives.
You can see the full Top 20 best-sellers chart below.
Moving to hardware, total spending on consoles dropped 22 percent compared to August 2018 to $167 million. Spending on a year-to-date basis fell 21 percent to $1.6 billion. The Nintendo Switch was August 2019's best-selling console, and it's the best-selling system in 2019 altogether. PS4 and Xbox One console sales declined in August 2019 and the full year in 2019 so far, with the Switch standing as the only home console system that is seeing improved sales.
This all makes sense given the Switch is relatively new compared to the PS4 and Xbox One, which are both coming up on their sixth anniversaries, with next-generation systems expected in Holiday 2020.
Total spending on video games in the US for August 2019--across games, consoles, and accessories--reached $666 million, which is down 18 percent compared to August 2018. On a year-to-date basis, spending across all segments combined is down 6 percent to $7 billion.
US NPD SW - AUG 2019 Top 20 Sellers - Madden NFL 20 is the best-selling game of August 2019. pic.twitter.com/J7OYGn5DvI
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) September 12, 2019
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