Game sales sank to a 20-year low in August 2019 in the United States, with overall consumer spend falling 18 per cent year-over-year. All sectors registered declines, with Nintendo Switch once again dominating the hardware charts. The performance was so poor across the board last month that it’s actually dragged down the entire year, which has now fallen six per cent when compared to 2018.
Madden NFL 20 was the best-selling game of the month, but it was legacy titles Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V which filled the remaining slots in the top three. Marvel’s Spider-Man continued to keep swinging in 11th position, while Man of Medan just managed to make the best-sellers list in 19th place. There was no room for Remedy’s Control, which will surely disappoint publisher 505 Games, despite it launching right at the very tail of the month.
NPD Software Top 20: August 2019
- 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*
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII**
- Age of Wonders: Planetfall
- Super Mario Party*
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order*
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
- The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
NPD PS4 Software Top 10: August 2019
- Madden NFL 20**
- Minecraft***
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII**
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Days Gone
- MLB 19: The Show
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
NPD Best Selling Games of 2019 So Far
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Kingdom Hearts III
- Madden NFL 20**
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2**
- Anthem**
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- Resident Evil 2 2019
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Days Gone
* Does not include digital sales
** Does not include PC digital sales
*** Minecraft does not include digital sales on PS4 and Xbox One
[source resetera.com]
Comments 33
It's safe to say that this has been a pretty dire summer for the industry as a whole. It's been a while since things were this quiet for such a long stretch of time.
Then you look at the release schedule over the next few months, and the beginning of 2020, and it's like... Wow, no wonder the summer sucked.
It makes you wonder why publishers don't release more games in the summer months instead of chucking everything in autumn or spring
well at-least they took that exclusive money from epic & sony so it will help cover any losses
On a positive note i count 9 switch exclusives in the top 20 and 5 switch exclusives in the top 10.
I bet we see control on xbox gamepass in 3 months tops
Anthem at 5 for the year is telling. EA can continue to do this with wreckless abandon it looks like lol. I mean if you make bank and the game dissapears quickly you can create the next live trainwreck ad nauseum. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. This isnt EAs first slap in the face to take it in. this tells me the majority of gamers are sheep and dont mind being swindled if they can pew pew with their buddies
@ShogunRok that's what i was thinking and not to mention the Next Gen is right around the corner too so that could impact sales a bit especially if people are saving for the PS5 (i am BTW)
Its really sad that a multiplaform game like control did not even chart. Happy for astral chain that came out on the 30th and it is by platinum games , which dont sell crazy normally.
In regard to Control, my days of paying $80 for untested new releases are long behind me. I'll wait until I can get that for $20. It usually happens in less than a year, and by then they've patched the game and have released some DLC as well. Win/win/win.
@KnightWolf Well it's only good news if your a Switch owner.
For my own tastes, most of those titles are pretty lousy. I own just one of them (Days Gone), I've owned one other (GTA V, on PS3, which bored me), and there are only two others I've got any interest in playing (Spider-Man and Man of Medan). The rest... shrugs.
Control is still better than Minecraft.super mario maker.and the other games .word up son
Well how about releasing some damn games that fall into the AAA category from June 1- Aug 10.
You get past August 10th many kids are returning to school and others are saving their money for the heavy hitters later that year.
Every year though June 1- August 10th is pretty barren.
I love how people are still buying Anthem. This won't teach EA anything.
@NinjaWaddleDee - they aren't. enough of bioware's fanbase bought anthem during its launch and nothing else has sold that well since. that's why it's one of the best sellers of the year so far. i know NPD is US specific, but i've felt that here in the UK games sales have been on a downward trajectory for much longer than the summer.
To be honest, nothing over the last couple of months interested me enough to part money - especially with a number of games coming up from September onwards. I know we are only halfway through September but I have bought more games (2) than in the preceding 3-4 month's (0) and no doubt, by the end of the year, I will have bought more games in the last 4 months (sept, oct, nov & dec) than I bought in the first 8 months - but such is the gaming industry right now.
I also wonder if the gaming industry is feeling the weight of the gamers and the fact that they have had enough of buying games with MTX, with the full content not available at launch and any other issues that have made headlines for the wrong reasons.
I am sure that the inevitable new hardware releases may also be affecting sales. The fact that its becoming harder to deliver consistent game performance - stable frame rates and visuals. Of course some could be improved by the iterative consoles but then people are starting to think that the cost of Pro/X is not worth it when new gen Hardware is around a year away. That inconsistency at launch must have a knock on effect on game sales as people wait for the devs to find away to optimise further for the base consoles - the consoles the majority of consoles in peoples homes.
@AdamNovice Ikr, you'd think a period when loads of kids have school holidays and a lot of adults take leave would be the perfect time to release a game.
@ThroughTheIris56 There's also a ton of outdoor activities, family events (bbqs, weddings etc) and biggest of all people going away on Holiday. This means the people covering the people on holiday have less time to game.
I'm going to be honest this year in games so far has been awful. When the best game is either Resi 2 remake, Borderlands 3 or Apex Legends you know its a dud.
Also an inadvertent effect of games as a service is less time for new games. It's simple maths. Whacking on fifa twice a week, rocket league every Friday night, bi weekly games on overwatch with a moba as a main - when are you going to play new stuff? (that's not me BTW just an example)
Bring on FF7 and Cyberpunk 2077.
@themcnoisy You're not wrong but not everybody goes away, and even if they do odds are they'll still have some days left over.
And unless you have a really busy social life, those sorts of events generally won't take up that much of leave. Even in a really busy Summer, odds are should have as much time for gaming as usual.
@Frigate This
I'm not buying anymore games due to having like 15+ that I've yet to start on
... unless there is a sale...
Days Gone swiftly made it to the list, lol
Who is still buying GTA5? I think Rockstar is buying the game themselves.
@AdamNovice The game had zero promo. Their publisher did nothing. Then it released around Madden and right before football season. It was a flop waiting to happen.
not considering digital sales this chart means nothing.
Digital was 60% of the sales a year ago... that trend is going up so im guessing we should be at at least %70 os sales are digital
I couldn't be happier with the games I picked up this year. And not a single one on that list. Remnant: From the Ashes being the one of the best titles I played this year.
@AdamNovice September is criminal i have like 4/5 games in a month. And then companies complain they dont sell games. You push way too much in a month.
@fabisputza00 Its a little stupid digital sales are more because you cant buy a lot of stuff in a store. Microtransactions, digital only DLC.
@glassmusic Plus if they release it a little later in a slower time they get bigger sales with less problems.
But the small titles are spectacular this year. They need more hype.
This is why when everybody was doing all their speculating I said I hoped Sony would invest in studios not named Remedy. I'm a big fan but its games just don't sell well.
Because of Gamepass and my extensive backlog, I have not bought any new games for a while.
Every person on the earth must have a copy of GTA V by now lol
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