The NPD Group has revealed the top ten best-selling games in the United States for the month of September.
The best-selling titles for the period between August 26th and September 29th are:
- Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV)
- Borderlands 2 (360, PS3, PC)**
- FIFA Soccer 13 (360, PS3, PSV, Wii, 3DS, PSP)
- New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)
- Guild Wars 2 (PC)**
- NHL 13 (360, PS3)**
- World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (PC)**
- NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
- Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSV, PC)
- Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)**
**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)
According to NPD analyst Liam Callahan, Madden sold 11% more units in its first month than Madden NFL 12, representing “the best month one performance at retail for a Madden title ever.” Borderlands 2, meanwhile, was up 234% over the launch of the original Borderlands in 2009.
“Although a stronger slate of content was released to market as compared to recent past months, weak comparisons to titles like Gears of War 3 and Dead Island from last September led to an overall decrease of 13% as compared to September 2011,” Callahan wrote. “When looking past the top-selling game for the month in each of the two comparison months, the remaining top 10 titles sold through 18% fewer units than they did last year. While year-over-year declines are present in video game software, we are seeing momentum leading up to the holidays when looking at August sales compared to September, which were up 67% on an average sales-per-week basis.”
Callahan notes that EA has five of the top 10 titles this month. Four come from EA Sports, continuing its massive string of success this month. Callahan adds that PC games are up 12% year-to-date through September thanks to strong launches like Guild Wars 2, Diablo III and Mists of Pandaria, softening the decline of sales this month. Overall, “video game sales alone were down 18%.”
Callahan notes that eight of the top 10 accessory items this month were character packs from Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure or digital point and subscription cards. “These types of accessories are helping offset the losses from accessories linked to hardware sales such as gamepads,” Callahan said.
On the hardware front, Callahan reports that hardware sales are up compared to last month for DS, 3DS, PlayStation 3, Vita and 360. Callahan suggests that this “points to momentum heading into the holiday season,” and that Wii U “has the potential to reinvigorate retail sales of hardware” when it launches next month.
Nintendo reports that 3DS software sales increased by 89% compared to the same month in 2011. New Super Mario Bros. 2 sold more than 295,000 units in September, and Mario Kart 7, Star Fox 64 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D “all saw sales increases compared to last month.” Nintendo also notes that Super Mario 64 DS has now sold more than five million units in the United States, making it the third DS game to pass the milestone (New Super Mario Bros. has sold 10.6 million and Mario Kart DS has sold 8.5 million).
According to Microsoft, 270,000 Xbox 360 systems were sold in September, giving the system a “49% share of current-generation console sales” in the United States and marking its “21st consecutive month as the top-selling current-generation console in the U.S.” Microsoft adds that more than $380 million was spent in September on Xbox 360 hardware, software and accessories.
This story will be updated once Sony provides IGN with a statement.
Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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