The NPD Group has released its August 2020 report, detailing the best-selling software and hardware for the month. To no one’s surprise and for its many faults, EA’s Madden NFL 21 topped the software charts. As NPD analyst told VentureBeat, “Madden NFL 21 was the best-selling title of August, with double-digit percentage dollar sales growth when compared to the release month of Madden NFL 20.”
Not only is this is the 21st (!) consecutive year that Madden NFL title has had the best-selling title in its release month but Madden NFL 21 is also the sixth best-selling title year to date. Currently, the franchise is the best-selling sports series in the US and third-best selling overall. So it’s perhaps interesting to hear that EA Sports UFC 4 was the second best-selling title for the month. As Piscatella notes it set “a new franchise launch month sales record for an Electronic Arts-published UFC title. UFC 4 ranked as the third best-selling game of August on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.”
However, the most surprising news is about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was the sixth best-selling Switch title in August and managed to rank among the top 10 best sellers on the console every month since it’s launch. That’s 42 straight months of being in the top ten and it never ranked lower than seventh place. “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the 10th best-selling game released on Nintendo platforms in U.S. tracked history,” said Piscatella. It should be interesting to see how Hyrule Warriors; Age of Calamity performs since it’s a prequel to Breath of the Wild.
Check out the top 20 best-selling US games for August below. These are ranked on dollar sales.
- Madden NFL 21
- EA Sports UFC 4
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Ring Fit Adventure
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- Paper Mario: The Origami King*
- Mortal Kombat 11
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- The Last of Us: Part II
- Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition
- PGA Tour 2K21*
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
- Super Mario Party*
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- Super Mario Odyssey*
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Luigi’s Mansion 3*
*Digital sales not included