Game Stooge

The Lund Report: August 2011 NPD

• Scribbled on September 9th, 2011 by Jordan Lund
• Filed in Features, Game Genres, NPD, Platforms

The August NPD numbers are in (mostly) and here’s what we know:

Microsoft took the top spot yet again, for the 8th month in a row, with 308,000 Xbox 360 sales. Nintendo placed third with 190,000 Wii’s sold. Sony failed to report any sales numbers yet again, but we know the 360 was 43% of all sales and the Wii sold 190,000. That means the PlayStation 3 had to have moved 218,000 in August, placing second. Things aren’t entirely rosy, August was a slow month for hardware (as it usually is), but even these slow numbers are a drop from 2010. The Xbox 360 is down 13%, the PS3 is down 3.54% and the Wii is off a whopping 22.23%.

The Nintendo DS dropped precipitously, selling only 165,000 machines while the 3DS rallied back after a significant price cut selling 235,000 for the month.

Now for some good news: year to date sales are still up for the 360 and PS3. January to August showed a 10.39% increase for the 360, a 0.11% increase for the PS3. Nintendo? Not so much. Wii sales are down 28.05% when compared to Jan-Aug, 2010.

The NPD blames the software for weak game sales. Madden NFL 12 technically released on 8/30, but they count the last week of August sales to actually be the first week of September so the Madden numbers won’t pop up until next month.

Without a power-house like Madden, the top 10 looks like this:

• 1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution Square Enix PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC
• 2. NCAA Football 12 Electronic Arts PS3 / Xbox 360
• 3. Call of Duty: Black Ops Activision PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC / Wii / DS
• 4. Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension Disney Interactive Studios PS3 / Wii / 3DS
• 5. Cars 2 Disney Interactive Studios PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC / Wii / DS
• 6. Just Dance Summer Party Ubisoft Wii
• 7. Just Dance 2 Ubisoft Wii
• 8. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean Disney Interactive Studios PS3 / Xbox 360 / Wii / DS / 3DS / PSP / PC
• 9. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D Nintendo 3DS
• 10. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party Majesco PS3 / Xbox 360 / Wii

As expected, Deus Ex takes the top spot. Next month will see Madden 12, Dead Island and Gears of War 3 all vying for the top position, it should make for an interesting month. The Ocarina of Time re-make is the sole single platform title aside from Just Dance 2 on the list which says a lot about people willing to buy the same game over and over again.

Most of the rest of the list is filled with Summer kid’s games, nothing wrong with that, but people don’t typically consider Disney Interactive to be an A-level game producer.

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