NPD: some data for August 2016

Yesterday, the NPD shared its public data for August 2016. It revealed that sales of video games in the country generated $573.4 million during that month (July 31st to September 3rd). That’s a barely noticeable improvement over August 2015, with +1% ($568.6 million), though that was during one of the lowest months of the year.

Sales were helped by strong releases, though none of them hit a Nintendo platform. That being said, the Nintendo 3DS did have a pretty good month (with a second consecutive month of growth)!

Here’s some raw data to begin:

• Hardware: $178.1 million (-6%), as opposed to $190.3 million million in August 2015;
• Console Software: $273.7 million (+8%), as opposed to $253.2 million in August 2015;
• Accessories (including Toys to Life category): $107 million (-5%), as opposed to $113 million in August 2015.

Software

The NPD reports that August 2016 was the strongest of this generations Software-wise, thanks to the major releases.

Hardware

As mentioned above, the Nintendo 3DS had a pretty strong month. In fact, it was one of the consoles that didn’t see a significant drop in sales Year on Year (along with the Xbox One). Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to compensate for the drop in sales of the Wii U (which plummeted), PlayStation 4, and previous-gen platforms.

What’s more, the average sale price also saw a noticeable drop: -7% for home consoles, and -22% for handhelds (due to the Nintendo 2DS price drop). Therefore, sales by units and sales by dollars were both down, which is a pretty deadly combination.

The NPD reports that the Xbox One S 2TB White was the second best-selling Hardware SKU, and that the Xbox One S accounted for almost a third of all console hardware sales. That should give you an idea of how much the other platforms have sold.

About the Nintendo 3DS, sales increased by 83%, with an additional $6 million compared to August 2015. For the NPD, that increase is due to both interest generated by Pokémon GO, and the release of Monster Hunter Generations.

Accessories

As far as accessories go, sale are down by 5% Year on Year, with $107 million in sales:

• gamecards: -6%
• headsets/headphones: -3%
• gamepads: -6% (-50% for previous-gen platforms)

That being said, sales of interactive toys (amiibo, Skylanders, LEGO Dimensions) are actually up by 10%.

Source: NPD
Via: VentureBeat