Video Games sales in U.S. (retail & digital) - August 2018
Analysis from NPD's VG industry analyst, Mat Piscatella
August 2018 spending across video game Hardware, Software, Accessories and Game Cards grew 26 percent when compared to a year ago, to $796 million. Growth was achieved across all categories of spending.
Year-to-date spending across video game Hardware, Software, Accessories and Game Cards is up 17 percent when compared to the same period a year ago, to $7.5 billion. Growth has occurred across all categories of spending, with Accessories & Game Cards driving the largest dollar growth.
| August 2018 Dollar Sales | Aug'17 | Aug'18 | CHG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Video Game Sales | $634m | $796m | 26% |
| Video Games Hardware | $168m | $214m | 28% |
| PC & Video Games Software [1] | $285m | $330m | 16% |
| Video Games Accessories & Game Cards | $181m | $251m | 39% |
| 2018 Year to Date Dollar Sales | 2017 YTD | 2018 YTD | CHG |
| Total Video Game Sales | $6,428m | $7,539m | 17% |
| Video Games Hardware | $1,740m | $2,117m | 22% |
| PC & Video Games Software [1] | $2,972m | $3,139m | 6% |
| Video Games Accessories & Game Cards | $1,716m | $2,284m | 33% |
[1] PC, Console and Portable ; Physical and Full Game Digital Formats from the Steam, PlayStation and Xbox platforms
Software
Dollar sales of Console, Portable and PC Games Software reached $330 million in August 2018, 16 percent higher when compared to a year ago. Year-to-date software spending is up 6 percernt versus year ago, to $3.1 billion.
Madden NFL 19 was the best-selling game of August 2018. Launch month sales of Madden NFL 19 are the highest achieved since the launch of Madden NFL 13.
Since 2000, Madden NFL Football has been the best-selling game of August every year, with the exceptions of 2011 and 2012, when Madden NFL launched in the September tracking period.
Grand Theft Auto V ranked as the fourth best-selling game of August 2018 and is now the fifth best-selling title of 2018 year to date. August marks Grand Theft Auto V's 60th month in market, and is the 59th month Grand Theft Auto V has appeared on the best-sellers chart. Grand Theft Auto V remains the best-selling game in tracked history.
Monster Hunter : World returns to the best-sellers list in August driven by the release of the PC version on August 9th. Monster Hunter : World was the second best-selling game of August and remains the third ranked best-selling game of 2018.
Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 returns to the monthly best-sellers list in August, driven by sales of the Xbox 360 version. The title was added to the Xbox One Backward Compatible Game Library on August 28th, propelling the title up to number 8 on the August best-sellers chart. Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 finished July 2018 as the 321st best-selling game of the month.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six : Siege climbed the chart from the 9th ranked position in July to become the third best-selling game of August. Performance was driven by the free play period that ran August 16-20 in conjunction with the Six Major Paris 2018 Esports tournament and associated retail and digital promotion.
Electronic Arts is the top-selling Full Game software publisher of August. Nintendo retains the top-selling publisher ranking for 2018 year to date.
August 2018 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales
| Titles | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Madden NFL 19^ | 1 | Electronic Arts |
| Monster Hunter: World | 2 | Capcom USA |
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege | 3 | Ubisoft |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 4 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Mario Kart 8* | 5 | Nintendo |
| Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker | 6 | Bandai Namco Games (Corp) |
| God of War | 7 | Sony (Corp) |
| Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | 8 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | 9 | Nintendo |
| Super Mario Odyssey* | 10 | Nintendo |
| Minecraft*** | 11 | Multiple |
| Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy | 12 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Far Cry 5 | 13 | Ubisoft |
| Monster Hunter: Generations Ultimate | 14 | Capcom USA |
| Call of Duty: WWII | 15 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Mario Tennis Aces* | 16 | Nintendo |
| Overwatch^ | 17 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| LEGO The Incredibles | 18 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| We Happy Few* | 19 | Gearbox Software |
| The Crew 2 | 20 | Ubisoft |
* Digital sales not included
^ PC digital sales not included
*** Minecraft sales include 100% of Physical and Digital on Sony and Microsoft consoles
Hardware
Hardware spending in August 2018 grew 28 percent when compared to a year ago, to $214 million. PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One and Plug N Play devices such as the NES Classic Edition all posted year-on-year gains.
For the 2018 year-to-date period, hardware spending has increased 22 percent to $2.1 billion. Spending gains for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Plug N Play devices such as the NES Classic and SNES Classic have driven growth. Hardware spending remains at its highest level achieved since 2011.
Nintendo hardware unit and dollar sales are at the highest year-to-date totals since 2011. The Nintendo Switch Neon Red/Blue Joy Con 32GB is the year's best-selling hardware item in both unit and dollar sales.
Year to date, Sony's PlayStation 4 remains the best-selling console hardware platform in both units and dollars.
August 2018 dollar sales of Plug N Play consoles grew by a factor of 21x when compared to a year ago, and are now up over 400 percent year to date. The NES Classic Edition is the year's best-selling Plug N Play console in units, while the SNES Classic Edition leads in dollar sales.
Accessories & Game Cards
Total spending on Accessories and Game Cards grew 39 percent in August 2018 when compared to a year ago, to $251 million. This represents a record high for an August tracking period.
Year to date, Accessories and Game Card spending has grown 33 percent when compared to a year ago, to $2.3 billion. This is also an all-time high, significantly exceeding the $1.7B generated in the 2017 year-to-date period.
Gamepad and Headset sales continue to sizzle, each reaching year-to-date sales records in the month of August. Headset/Headphone sales are now up 88 percent year to date, while Gamepad sales have grown 26 percent. The Xbox One Ear Force Stealth 600 Wireless Headset from Turtle Beach is the year's best-selling Headset in dollar sales, while Sony's PS4 DualShock 4 Wireless Controller Black is 2018's top selling Gamepad in both units and dollars.
Game Card spending continues to set records. Unit sales of Game Cards are up more than 50 percent in the year, while dollar sales growth exceeds 40 percent.