The NPD Group has released their hardware and software numbers for the month of August, representing sales for the United States for the four week period of August 2nd to August 29th.

Notables this month:

• Industry faces sixth consecutive year-on-year decline
• PS3 breaks nine month year-on-year decline streak
• PS3 price drop has minimal initial impact

Hardware numbers:
NDS: 552.9k (138.225k per week)
WII: 277.4k (69.35k per week)
360: 215.4k (53.85k per week)
PS3: 210.0k (52.5k per week)
PSP: 140.3k (35.075k per week)
PS2: 105.9k (26.475k per week)

2009 Year-to-Date in US:
NDS: 5,193,600
WII: 3,554,300
360: 2,038,900
PS3: 1,451,700
PSP: 1,182,200
PS2: 999,800

Lifetime-to-Date in US:
NDS: 32,734,800
WII: 21,094,100
360: 15,898,900
PSP: 14,523,000
PS3: 8,245,500

Difference between August 2009 and 2008 Numbers
Platform: 2009 - 2008: +/- : % Change
NDS: 552,900 - 518,300: +34,600 : +6.68%
WII: 277,400 - 453,000: -175,600 : -38.76%
360: 215,400 - 195,200: +20,200 : +10.35%
PS3: 210,000 - 185,400: +24,600 : +13.27%
PSP: 140,300 - 253,000: -112,700 : -44.55%
PS2: 105,900 - 144,100: -38,200 : -26.51%

The top ten software went as follows:
01. [360] Madden NFL 10 (Electronic Arts) - 08/2009 - 928k
02. [WII] Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) - 07/2009 - 754k
03. [PS3] Madden NFL 10 (Electronic Arts) - 08/2009 - 665k
04. [360] Batman: Arkham Asylum (Square Enix) - 08/2009 - 303k
05. [PS3] Batman: Arkham Asylum (Square Enix) - 08/2009 - 290k
06. [PS2] Madden NFL 10 (Eletronic Arts) - 08/2009 - 160k
07. [PSP] Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square Enix) - 08/2009 - 130k
08. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 05/2008 - 128k
09. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) - 04/2008 - 120k
10. [NDS] Fossil Fighters (Nintendo) - 08/2009 - 92k

Things to point out:

• Industry as a whole saw decreases from August 2008
  • Sixth consecutive month of year-on-year decline
• Madden 10 combined total: 1753k
  • 52.9/37.9/7.4 split 360/PS3/PS2
• Batman: Arkhan Asylum combined total: 593k
  • 51.1/48.9 split 360/PS3
• Breakdown of top ten:
  • Software platforms: WII - 3, 360 - 2, PS3 - 2, NDS - 1, PSP - 1, PS2 - 1
  • Software publishers: Electronic Arts - 1753k, Nintendo - 1094k, Square Enix - 723k
  • Software totals by platform: 360 - 1231k, WII - 1002k, PS3 - 955k, PS2 - 160k, PSP - 130k, NDS - 92k
• Plateaus reached:
  • NDS surpasses 5 million year-to-date in US
  • 360 surpasses 2 million year-to-date in US
  • WII surpasses 21 million lifetime-to-date in US

Things to look for next month:

• Notable new releases:
  • [360/PS3/WII] The Beatles: Rock Band
  • [360] Halo 3: ODST
  • [WII] Dead Space Extraction
  • [WII/PS2] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up!
  • [NDS] Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
  • [NDS] Scribblenauts
  • [NDS] Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
• PS3 Slim releases in September

[July 2009 NPD]

Analysis from NPD's Anita Frazier:

The industry realized its sixth consecutive month-over-month decline, and while improved over the last several months, it's still a notable decline. The back four months of the year would have to be up 14% in aggregate for 2009 to come in flat in comparison to 2008 sales.

The price cuts implemented on the PS3 and 360 hardware already made an impact on unit sales, despite having been executed fairly late in the month. It will be interesting to see the full impact of the new price points on September sales.

All hardware systems with the exception of the PS2 realized an increase in unit sales over July. The PS3 captured the greatest increase month-over-month with unit sales boosted by 72% over July levels.

There is a lot of speculation about Wii and whether Nintendo will take a price cut as sales comps to last year show declines. I do think it's interesting to note that the Wii is still selling at levels comparable to what the PS2 was doing at about this point in its lifecycle.

As many predicted, Madden captured the top spot for the month, selling nearly 1.9 million units across its five SKU's.

With the introduction of Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 in September, a lot of folks have inquired about the performance of these titles and the music/dance genre. While sales of this genre are down 46% year-to-date, unit sales are down much less because lower prices are playing into the dollar sales decline. It's still the third best-selling genre for the year after General Action and Multiple/Other Sports (where Wii Fit resides).

The PS3 was the only platform to realize a year-over-year increase in total software sales and this is reflected in the top 10 list for the month which includes two PS3 games.

Accessories was the only category to experience an increase for the month of August over last year's sales. The uptick in hardware sales helps to spur sales of additional controllers and other peripherals which help consumers enjoy their new system(s).