August Console Sales: Madden and Batman Team Up to Fight Recession as PS3 Surges on Price Cut

September 10, 2009 4:09 PM

Madden NFL 10 was the best-selling console game in North America over the month of August, though sales of this year's title were down when compared to NFL 09.

EA Sports' title sold nearly 1.9 million units across various platforms, while NFL 09 did better than 2.1 million in its opening month last year. The drop reflects a slow season for video game buying, with the industry seeing another year-over-year drop in sales in August--this time to the tune of 14%, according to NPD. Rounding out the top five, Nintendo's Wii Sports Resort pushed 754,000 units, while Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum sold nearly 600,000 units across both PS3 and Xbox 360.

August console software sales:

Madden NFL 10 (360, EA Sports) - 928,000 units
Wii Sports Resort (Wii, Nintendo) - 754,000 units
Madden NFL 10 (PS3, EA Sports) - 665,000 units
Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, Rocksteady) - 303,000 units
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, Rocksteady) - 290,000 units
Madden NFL 10 (PS2, EA Sports) - 160,000 units
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP, Square Enix) - 130,000 units
Wii Fit (Wii, Nintendo) - 128,000 units
Mario Kart (Wii, Nintendo) - 120,000 units
Fossil Fighters (NDS, Red Entertainment) - 92,000 units

On the hardware side of things, the PlayStation 3 saw a boost from the introduction of the new $300 PS3 Slim. Sony's console sold 210,000 units compared to July's 121,800 mark. Microsoft's Xbox 360 price cut took effect at the end of the month, resulting in nearly identical sales figures for the competitive consoles.

Hardware sales:

Nintendo DS - 552.9K
Wii - 277.4K
Xbox 360 - 215.4K
PlayStation 3 - 210.0K
PSP - 140.3K
PlayStation 2 - 105.9K

Nick Breckon

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Ryfael

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September 10, 2009 4:28 PM

The fact that Batman sold similar numbers across platforms shows how much that Joker DLC content meant to buyers who could choose between both systems. Exclusive DLC carried the day. More competition is great. These might be the last glory days of console gaming.
- lordkosc
  
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  September 10, 2009 7:05 PM
  
  well i got a SLIM , and my first game was BATMAN on it, why? Joker levels. I have easily put in 10 hrs just on his challenge levels, they are a lot more challenging than Batmans.