PS4 Comes Out on Top in NPD's August 2015 US Sales Report

The NPD Group today released its monthly report covering new, physical sales in the United States, and the PS4 was once again the best-selling system during August 2015.

As always, the public part of the report fails to include any specific sales figures for hardware (or software). Sony, however, has issued a statement revealing that the PS4 was both the best-selling console and the top system in terms of software sales in North America last month.

The company notes that Madden 16 sold best on PS4, and also called attention to Call of Duty: Black Ops III's beta, which signals "a significant milestone in our new partnership with Activision. We look forward to furthering momentum with the launch of Destiny: The Taken King next week."

Like Sony, Microsoft's statement fails to share any specific sales figures. The company highlighted its big game slate for the remainder of the year, which it says began with the August releases of Rare Replay and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. In terms of the Xbox One's sales performance, it would only say hardware sales were up 26 percent when compared with August 2014.

"With more of the greatest games lineup in Xbox history, support for Xbox 360 games, the New Xbox One Experience system update in November alongside Xbox One Backward Compatibility, and award-winning Xbox Elite Wireless Controller to follow this holiday, we're excited to further build on this momentum in the months to come," says Xbox marketing boss Mike Nichols.

Nintendo told GameSpot that 3DS sales are up more than 30 percent so far this year (compared with the first eight months of 2014). It also pointed out that, in the US alone, Amiibo figures have sold more than 7 million units, and Splatoon sales have topped 600,000 copies. The company didn't address sales of the Wii U itself.

Overall, hardware sales were down 2 percent year-over-year to $190.5 million. According to NPD analyst Liam Callahan, "There was modest dollar growth of 3 percent for eighth generation consoles that was offset by a sharp 61 percent decline in seventh generation sales. Portables grew 4 percent over last year."

What hardware sales did take place were predominantly in the form of bundles. "93 percent of unit sales in August 2015 came from bundles, which compares to 41 percent in August 2014," Callahan noted.

One area of growth was the video game accessories category, which was up 12 percent year-over-year to $149.6 million.

PS4 was also the top seller in July, and it's been in the top spot every month since April, when Xbox One was number one. More often than not, PS4 has been the best-selling system since it launched in November 2013.

On the software side, the latest version of Madden came out number one in the list of best-selling games.