NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella made one thing clear in his rundown for the month of August 2019–“August was weird.” Lots of shifting took place, with regards to sales numbers and other types of data. For instance, Astral Chain debuted on the NPD chart at number ten and is the month’s only new title to land in the top ten. However, particularly strange are the numbers for software spending. Compared to August 2018, August 2019 suffered a huge drop in software spending. Interestingly, the drop to a meager $257 million in software spending is the lowest its been for the months since August 1998, where software spending sat at $234 million.
Other interesting bits include Madden NFL 20 taking the number one spot on the NPD chart, as expected. Minecraft counts as the month’s second best-selling title for August, and 2019’s 13th best-sellling game. In news few will find surprising, Nintendo Switch exclusives essentially owned the month for software sales. Out of the month’s 10 top-selling titles, Switch exclusives counted for half of them. One more oddity Piscatella made note of in his rundown concerns racing wheels. Yes, racing wheels. Apparently, sales for these accessories were boosted almost 60 percent compared to racing wheel sales in August 2018. Wild.
According to the NPD Group, the 10 best-selling games for the month of August 2019 in the U.S. are as follows:
- Madden NFL 20
- Minecraft
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Fire Emblem Three Houses
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Super Mario Maker 2
- Mario Kart 8
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
- Astral Chain
Most notably Remedy Entertainment’s recently released Control didn’t even crack the top 20. The supernatural experience landed on the charts at the number 23 spot, likely due to its launch arriving towards the end of the month. It will be interesting how Control fares when notes about September’s sales come around.
Mortal Kombat 11‘s remaining in the top 10 is no big surprise. According to Piscatella, it also remains the year’s best-selling game in the U.S., thus far.
[Source: Mat Piscatella on Twitter]
