September US retail sales fall despite Madden NFL - NPD

Not long after Epic Games released Gears of War 3 in September, Microsoft announced that the sci-fi shooter had sold more than 3 million units globally in just one week. However, even that solid start wasn't enough to halt the multiplatform blitz of Electronic Arts' perennial juggernaut Madden NFL from taking the top slot in the NPD Group's monthly US retail sales recap.

NPD no longer issues unit sales figures for software, and Electronic Arts had not announced Madden NFL 12 sales across the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP as of press time. However, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg took to his Twitter feed to confirm that Gears of War 3 sold more than 2 million units in the US during the month.

Deep Silver scored a surprise appearance in NPD's monthly recap, with Dead Island coming in as the third best-selling game for the month in the US. That performance beat out a number of other new releases, including FIFA 12, NHL 12, Resistance 3, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, all of which charted.

Despite the presence of Madden NFL in the September reporting period, software sales still fell year-over-year. All said, total sales for console, portable, and PC games dipped 1 percent to $653.2 million for the month.

Hardware saw a significant milestone during the month. Following the release of NPD's report, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo DS has now sold more than 50 million units in the US alone, having added an additional 145,000 units during September. Nintendo also said that the 3DS sold 260,000 units in September, while the Wii sold 240,000 units.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was again the top-selling console in the US last month, having shifted an additional 438,000 units. Though Sony did not reveal PS3 sales figures, the company did say that the console experienced 20 percent sales growth over the same period last year. Overall, hardware sales fell 9 percent to $349 million, according to NPD.

SEPTEMBER 2011 US GAME SALES
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Total retail sales: $1.16 billion (-6%)
Total non-PC retail sales: $1.13 billion (-4%)
Non-PC hardware: $349.0 million (-9%)
Non-PC software: $630.2 million (3%)
Accessories: $154.8 million (-14%)
Total software: $653.2 million (-1%)

TOP 10 GAMES FOR SEPTEMBER 2011
Title (Platforms) - Publisher
1. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP) - Electronic Arts
2. Gears of War 3 (360) - Microsoft
3. Dead Island (360, PS3, PC) - Deep Silver
4. FIFA Soccer 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, 3DS) - Electronic Arts
5. NHL 12 (360, PS3) - Electronic Arts
6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (360, PS3, PC) - Square Enix
7. Resistance 3 (PS3) - Sony
8. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii, DS, 360, 3DS, PS3, PSP, PC) - LucasArts
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, DS, Wii, PC) - Activision Blizzard
10. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (360, PS3, PC) - THQ