The NPD August 2021 report has been released, and it finds total industry spending up 7% year-over-year (yoy) reaching an August record of $4.4 billion. Year-to-date consumer spending totaled $37.9 billion, which is a 13% increase yoy.
Hardware sales were up 45% compared to August 2020, to $329 million. This is the highest total for an August month since 2008 when total sales reached $395 million.
Year-to-date hardware spending increased by 49% when yoy to $3.0 billion.
Once again, Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in units for August and year-to-date; however, PS5 leads both time periods in dollar sales and it remains the fastest-selling PlayStation platform in history.
In software, Madden NFL 22 debuted as the best-selling game of August and is so far the fourth best-selling game of the year.
A look at the best-selling games for August can be found above. The best-selling games for individual consoles can be found in the gallery.
Ghost of Tsushima was the second best-selling game of August, thanks to the Director’s Cut being released. Humankind was the best-selling title on PC and came in fourth on the bet-selling titles chart.
Mobile game sales exceeded $2 billion and the top-earning mobile games in the US included Candy Crush Saga, Garena Free Fire, Roblox, Coin Master, Pokemon GO, Genshin Impact, Homescapes, Clash of Clans, and PUBG Mobile.
As far as accessories are concerned, spending was flat yoy at $164 million. Year-to-date accessory sales reached $1.6 billion, which is 12% increase over the same time period in 2020.
The Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller was the best-selling accessory, and the PS5 DualSense Wirelesss Controller White remains the best-selling accessory year-to-date.