August 2014 NPD: PS4 is #1 for an 8th Consecutive Month

It was another good month for the games industry, with the NPD reporting that August 2014 retail sales in the United States were up 8% to $561.3 million when compared to August 2013’s $521.1 million. The breakdown for August 2014 sees hardware up 116% year-over-year to $196.2 million, while software was down 21% to $231.6 million.

As you probably guessed, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One helped hardware perform so well, as NPD analyst Liam Callahan notes:

Overall new physical retail sales increased by 8 percent in August 2014 over August 2013. The month followed a similar pattern of prior months with explosive hardware growth driven by eighth-generation consoles offsetting declines in software.

Callahan continued by revealing that combined sales of the PS4 and Xbox One are 70% higher than combined sales of the PS3 and Xbox 360 at the same point in their life-cycles:

When lining up sales of PS4 and Xbox One after ten months on the market. The combined PS4 and Xbox One hardware sales are greater by over 70 percent compared to their predecessors.

Looking at hardware a little closer, Sony confirmed that the “PlayStation 4 was #1 in hardware sales for the eighth consecutive month and remains the cumulative leader for next generation game consoles.” Not only that, but for the third consecutive month, “PlayStation was #1 in combined home console hardware sales (PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3).” Additionally, The Last of Us Remastered “was the top selling first-party title in August.”

As for software, Madden NFL 15 placed in first overall, with the PlayStation 4 version getting the most sales out all consoles (you can tell by the rankings in brackets below). The PlayStation 4 also claimed the most sales for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition.

Here’s the top 10 selling games in August 2014, which totals retail sales across all systems and includes Collectors Editions, GOTY Editions, and bundles, but not those bundled with hardware: