August NPD closes the field, Madden Wii does poorly
A couple of big new titles disrupt an otherwise standard Madden month in the US
Thing are looking very interesting going into the last and busiest months of the year in America as the gap between the Wii and the HD consoles closens, and the gap between the Xbox 360 and the PS3 gets even closer. Last month in America the top selling console was again the Nintendo DS (both DSi and DS Lites) on 552.900 sales, but it’s the next three that are the most interesting with the Wii on 277,400, the Xbox 360 215,000, and the Playstation 3 on 210,000 units moved. While the Wii still has a nice buffer on the other two consoles, the gap is closing. As the charts reflect, though, there hasn’t been anything released to drive sales for a couple months, but it could turn sour if things don’t improve heading in Christmas. If you’re wondering, there was only possibly one or two days in the reported period for the Playstation 3 slim, so it still sold pretty well regardless of the then impending update.
Software time, and it’s Batman and Madden who are sitting pretty; sure, Wii Sports Resort is there, as is Wii Fit, but the sales of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Madden NFL 10 are quite good. However, Madden NFL 10 on the Wii failed to chart in the top ten, while the PS2 version did, so that has to be worrying for EA. Perhaps the semi-cartoon style put the punters off? Good news for the handhelds, though, with a PSP game finally cracking the top ten and Nintendo’s quirky Dinosaur fighter, Fossil Fighters, sliding into position ten.
That Wii figure isn’t too worrying, but if it doesn’t pick up soon Nintendo will have to do something. Heck, the PS3 might even out sell both the 360 and Wii next month thanks to the slim boost.
Hardware
PlayStation 2 105.9K
PlayStation 3 210.0K
PSP 140.3K
Xbox 360 215.4K
Wii 277.4K
Nintendo DS 552.9K
Software
MADDEN NFL 10 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 928,000
WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Jul-09 754,000
MADDEN NFL 10 PS3 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 665,000
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* 360 SQUARE ENIX INC Aug-09 303,000
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM* PS3 SQUARE ENIX INC Aug-09 290,000
MADDEN NFL 10 PS2 ELECTRONIC ARTS Aug-09 160,000
DISSIDIA: FINAL FANTASY PSP SQUARE ENIX INC Aug-09 130,000
WII FIT* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA May-08 128,000
MARIO KART W/WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Apr-08 120,000 9
FOSSIL FIGHTERS NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Aug-09 92,000
Source: NPD via NeoGAF
