Madden 19 wins MVP for August according to NPD Group

TOUCHDOWN!

It should come as no surprise to anyone, but EA’s Madden NFL series is massively popular. I guess hype for the latest entry, Madden 19, was at its highest as the game has come out to record-breaking sales. Not only was it the biggest launch in Madden history since Madden 13, but it also became the best selling game of August 2018. If that wasn’t enough, it is now the fourth best selling game of 2018.

This shouldn’t be too shocking as Madden has historically been the biggest seller of August. NPD Analyst Mit Piscatella recalls, “Since 2000, Madden NFL Football has been the best-selling game of August every year, with the exceptions of 2011 and 2012, when Madden NFL launched in the September tracking period.” Guess which games were the best selling of those two Septembers? (The answer is Madden)

The odd part isn’t about Madden’s success, though. What is truly shocking is that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has shown up in the charts. A game released nine years ago is charting alongside current hits and ahead of some of the biggest games of this year. Have we entered a time warp? This is likely because the game was added on Xbox One backward compatibility last month. Piscatella states, “The title was added to the Xbox One Backward Compatible Game Library on August 28, propelling the title up to number 8 on the August best-sellers chart.”

The rest of the list is pretty similar to what we saw last month. Oddly, Octopath Traveler and Destiny 2 aren’t in the top 20 anymore, but everything else is similar to last month’s report.

• 1. Madden NFL 19**
• 2. Monster Hunter: World
• 3. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
• 4. Grand Theft Auto V
• 5. Mario Kart 8*
• 6. Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker
• 7. God of War
• 8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• 9. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
• 10. Super Mario Odyssey*
• 11. Minecraft
• 12. Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy
• 13. Far Cry 5
• 14. Monster Hunter: Generations Ultimate
• 15. Call of Duty: WWII
• 16. Mario Tennis Aces*
• 17. Overwatch**
• 18. Lego The Incredibles
• 19. We Happy Few*
• 20. The Crew 2

*No digital sales
**No PC digital sales

August 2018 NPD: Madden NFL has its best kickoff since 2013 [Venture Beat]