August marks the calm just before the storm of the busy release season, and we can see it in stark relief in the latest NPD report. New releases Madden NFL 15 and Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls (on consoles) are right at the top of the list. The Last of Us got another boost from its PS4 rerelease too. The remainder of the list are perpetually popular games like Call of Duty, Minecraft, and Battlefield.

The NPD Group's David Riley notes that this August wasn't favorable compared to last August in terms of software sales, but that's due mostly to a more packed release schedule last year. “New launches in August 2014 declined 41 percent compared to new launch performance in August 2013 due to poor comparisons to August 2013 launches like Saints Row IV, Disney Infinity, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Eight out of the top ten games in August were new launches compared to only 3 in August 2014.”

Riley also noted that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sales accounted for a whopping 70% of hardware sales in August, the highest percentage of the market since both consoles were released last November. 

August 2014 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)

• Madden NFL 15 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
• Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC)
• Minecraft (360, PS3)
• The Last of Us (PS4, PS3)
• Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC, NWU)
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes (360, PS3, NWU, PS4, 3DS, NDS, XBO, PSV, PC) 
• Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare (360, PS3, PS4, XBO) 
• Watch Dogs (PS4, 360, PS3, XBO, PC)
• Battlefield 4 (360, PS3, PS4, XBO, PC) 
• The LEGO Movie Videogame (360, 3DS, PS3, NWU, PS4, XBO, PSV)