Madden NFL 15 Leads August US Game Sales, As Xbox 360/PS3/Wii See "Deep Declines" In Software

Madden NFL 15 was the top-selling title overall in August in the United States, the NPD Group announced today. The top five was rounded out by Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Minecraft, The Last of Us, and Call of Duty: Ghosts. You can see the full top ten sales chart below.

Although Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U software sales were up in August over last year, overall software sales took a major hit during August, falling 22 percent. This downturn was driven primarily by gamers abandoning last-generation consoles, NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan said.

"Deep declines in seventh generation software (Xbox 360/PS3/Wii) of 57 percent were not offset by growth in eighth generation software, leading to a net decrease of console software sales of $47 million," he said.

Further hurting software sales for August was a tough comparison to August 2013, which saw the release of big-name games like Saints Row IV, Disney Infinity, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Eight of the top ten games in August 2013 were new games, compared to only three this year.

The hardware side, however, was a better story. Overall hardware sales jumped 116 percent over August 2013 thanks to "continued strong sales" of current-generation hardware. More impressively, current-generation hardware sales made up close to 70 percent of all August 2014 hardware sales. This is the highest percentage share since the release of the Xbox One and PS4 back in November.

Even more impressively, Callahan notes, "When lining up sales of PS4 and Xbox One after ten months on the market, the combined PS4 and Xbox One hardware sales are greater by over 70 percent compared to their predecessors."

The PS4 was yet again the top-selling new console for the month, and it remains the cumulative leader for current-generation sales, Sony announced in its own statement. A specific sales number was not revealed. Microsoft and Nintendo did not announce sales for their platforms.

The Accessories sector, however, declined by 2 percent, despite a 50 percent increase in controller sales. It didn't help, either, that Disney Infinity was released this time last year, boosting accessory sales at the time.

AUGUST US GAME SALES (August 3-August 30, 2014)

OVERALL DOLLAR SALES

• Total retail sales: $561.3 million (+8%)
• Non-PC hardware: $196.2 million (+116%)
• Non-PC software: $231.6 million (-21%)
• Accessories: $133.5 million (-2%)
• Total software: $238.7 million (-22%)

TOP 10 GAMES FOR August 2014

Title (Platforms) - Publisher

1. Madden NFL 15 (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3 ) - Electronic Arts
2. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PC) - Activision Blizzard
3. Minecraft (Xbox 360, PS3) - Microsoft/Sony
4. The Last of Us (PS4, PS3) - Sony
5. Call of Duty: Ghosts (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3, PC, Wii U) - Activision Blizzard
6. Lego Marvel Super Heroes (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PS4, 3DS, DS, Xbox One, PS Vita, PC) - Warner Bros.
7. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One) - Electronic Arts
8. Watch Dogs (PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PC) - Ubisoft
9. Battlefield 4 (Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, PC) - Electronic Arts
10. The Lego Movie Video Game (Xbox 360, 3DS, PS3, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita) - Warner Bros.

Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch