Overall:
Retail sales down 20% for August year over year.
Software:
1.) Darksiders 2 (360, PS3, PC) THQ -
247K
2.) New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) Nintendo -
240K
3.) Kingdom Hearts 3D (3DS) Square Enix -
Over 200K (for comparison, KH:BbS on PSP did 225K in its opening month with the same number of days)
4.) NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3) Electronic Arts
5.) Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSV, PC) Warner Bros
6.) Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3) Square Enix -
172K
7.) Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360, PS3) Activision Blizzard -
105K
8.) Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC) Warner Bros
9.) Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC) Activision Blizzard
10.) The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3, NDS, 3DS, Wii) Activision Blizzard
Hardware:
Xbox 360:
193k (-37.3%)
3DS: Above 170K (last month minimum * 1.36 due to 36% increase from Nintendo PR), below 235K (last year). It is likely notably closer to 170K given Nintendo gave a specific percentage.
PS3: Above last month, below 193K (360 sold more)
Other Information:
Originally Posted by MS PR:
Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. console market – marking the 20th consecutive month as the top-selling current-generation console in the U.S.
August 2012 U.S. NPD highlights:
· Xbox 360 sold 193,000 units in August, more units than any other current generation console, and held 48 percent share of current-generation console sales in the U.S. This marks the 18th consecutive month that Xbox 360 has held more than a 40 percent share of current-generation console sales in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, August 2012)
· Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in August (hardware, software and accessories) reached $196 million; consumers spent more on Xbox 360 products in August than they spent on the other two current-generation consoles combined. (Source: NPD Group, August 2012)
· During the month of August, Xbox 360 held five of the top 10 U.S. console game titles including: “Darksiders II,” “NCAA Football 12,” “Sleeping Dogs,” “Transformers: Fall of Cybertron” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.” (Source: NPD Group, August 2012)
There has never been a better time to own an Xbox 360 than this holiday. This fall, Xbox 360 is gearing up to launch a suite of new entertainment and gaming experiences including the year’s hottest blockbuster games; “Halo 4,” “Forza Horizon,” “Dance Central 3” and “Fable: The Journey.”
Also on the horizon for this year are breakthrough Xbox 360 experiences for the whole family such as “Kinect Sesame Street TV,” “Kinect Nat Geo TV” and “Nike+ Kinect Training,” alongside Internet Explorer for Xbox 360, Xbox for Windows 8, Xbox SmartGlass and Xbox Music.
Originally Posted by Anita Frazier:
Overall
“These sales figures represent new physical retail sales of hardware, software and accessories, which account for roughly 50% of the total consumer spend on games. When you consider our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in August such as used and rentals at $104MM, and our estimate for digital format sales including full game and add-on content downloads including microtransactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and the consumer spend on social network games at $391MM, we would estimate the total consumer spend in August to be $989MM. Our final assessment of the consumer spend in these areas outside of new physical retail sales will be reported in November in our Q3 Games Market Dynamics: U.S. report.”
“You can’t talk about the gaming market without taking into consideration the growth in the number of mobile gamers on smartphones and tablets. Our recently released gamer segmentation research indicates that the mobile gamer segment of the market is now slightly larger than the core gamer segment, although their monetary value to the industry varies significantly. The industry foundation will always be the core gamer who spends 35 percent more on physical games than does the average gamer.”
Hardware
“Of the platforms that were on the market last August, none realized a year-over-year sales increase. However, compared to July 2012, the 3DS and the PS3 both experienced unit sales increases in August.”
“The 3DS XL launched on 8/19 and represented 44 percent of total 3DS unit sales, which is noteworthy given the fact that only seven days of 3DS sales are captured in this report.”
“The current hardware systems are showing their age, so it goes without saying that it would be great to have new systems breathe life into traditional retail industry sales. I am anxious to learn more about the Wii U launch later this month. And with any luck we will hear news about other systems on the horizon.”
Software
“Within software, the high definition platforms posted only a slight 1 percent decline in dollar sales as compared to last August, pointing to a stabilization in that portion of the retail market for games content.”
“One factor contributing to the softness we have seen in retail content sales so far in 2012 has been the decline in the sheer number of new titles. This, however, was not the case in August because there were more new titles when compared to last year; titles with sales that were significantly better than last year’s launches. So, what we’re seeing impact August results is the domino effect of the light release schedule from earlier in the year. That lack of new releases has had a significant impact on subsequent month’s sales.”
Accessories
“Similar to what we’ve seen in previous months, the top of the sales list for accessories is dominated by point and subscription card sales, as well as Skylander character pack sales.”
NPD acknowledges that the current generation is "showing its age"
The NPD Group has sent its August retail sales report for the US market, and once again it was not a pretty sight, as total industry sales dropped 20 percent to $515.6 million. Total software sales (including PC retail software) dropped 11 percent to $252.8 million while hardware sales declined a sizable 39 percent to $150.6 million. Accessories were also down seven percent to $127.3 million.
"The current hardware systems are showing their age, so it goes without saying that it would be great to have new systems breathe life into traditional retail industry sales," said NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier. "I am anxious to learn more about the Wii U launch later this month. And with any luck we will hear news about other systems on the horizon."
https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/09/06/darksiders-ii-leads-august-sales.aspx
U.S. market research firm NPD released its latest video game retail sales figures for the month of August. THQ's Darksiders II led software sales with 247,000 units sold. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron from Activision placed 7th and sold 105,000 units.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 Emerges as the Best-Selling Video Game of August
Even with only five days of reported data, Nintendo 3DS XL and New Super Mario Bros. 2 still had major impacts on the August video game market. The new hardware, which features 90 percent larger screens than the original Nintendo 3DS, and the new side-scrolling Mario adventure both launched on Aug. 19 and helped Nintendo achieve the following:
- Nintendo 3DS software sales increased by more than 68 percent over sales in July.
- Nintendo 3DS hardware sales increased by more than 36 percent over sales in July.
- The No. 1 and No. 2 top-selling software SKUs for the month are both exclusive to Nintendo 3DS. New Super Mario Bros. 2 sold more than 240,000 units to finish No. 1, and KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance] from Square Enix sold more than 180,000 copies to finish No. 2.
“Software sells hardware, and no one sells either quite like Mario,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “In addition to helping New Super Mario Bros. 2 get off to a great start, Nintendo 3DS XL is driving increased interest in titles such as Kid Icarus: Uprising, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Kart 7. These games have been on the market for more than six months but provide a completely new experience on the larger screens. Combine these titles with the upcoming Paper Mario: Sticker Star and a robust list of third-party games, and Nintendo 3DS is poised to be high on holiday wish lists this year.”
For more information about Nintendo, visit
http://www.nintendo.com.
http://nintendoeverything.com/98208/august-2012-npd-nintendos-response-nsmb2-and-kh3d-sales/
