The NPD Group’s monthly tracking of spending across the US games industry is in for August, which spotlights another huge month for the market. Consumer spending totalled $3.3 billion, a 37% year-on-year increase, led by a strong performance from sports games and Nintendo Switch hardware and software.
Video game industry analyst Matt Piscatella was once again on hand to break down The NPD Group’s findings, explaining on Twitter that “Madden NFL 21’s double-digit percentage dollar sales growth when compared to the release month of Madden NFL 20 saw it claim top-spot in August for the 21st consecutive time.
Meanwhile, EA Sports’ UFC 4 also made a big impression as the second best-selling game of the month, setting a new franchise launch month sales record for an Electronic Arts published UFC title. UFC 4 ranked as the third best-selling game of August on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Elsewhere, Nintendo Switch software continues to quietly record big numbers as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild became the sixth best-seller of August. Pisccatella notes that it “has ranked among the top 7 best-sellers on Switch for 42 consecutive months. It is the 10th best-selling game on Nintendo platforms in US tracked history.”
Nintendo Switch performance was also the big takeaway for the hardware segment, too, as the console set a new US August hardware dollar sales record, besting the August 2008 dollar sales of the Nintendo Wii.
Piscatella notes that “Nintendo Switch unit volume more than doubled when compared to a year ago. Switch was the best-selling hardware platform of the month.”
In total, Piscatella surmised that “hardware spending increased 37% in Aug 2020 when compared to a year ago, to $229m. Year-to-date spending on hardware increased 23 percent vs YA, to $2.0 billion.”
Below you can see slide images from Piscatella’s presentation, which spotlight the leaders across all gaming segments.
To compare August’s data with July, it’s here.
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