August NPD: Darksiders 2 reaps in a ton of cash as overall sales decline

Posted By: Michael Lacerna In: Console News, Gaming News, PC, Playstation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 On: 10 Sep

The NPD Group has once again released sales figures for the past month, and the story in August was pretty much the same as every other month in 2012 so far: a handful of titles managed to do some good business, but overall sales within the industry continue to fall.

Darksiders 2 snagged the top spot in August. THQ’s genre-combining sequel seems guaranteed to outperform its cult classic prequel, as overwhelming positive reviews propelled Darksiders 2 to over 247,000 units sold. It’s worth noting that The NPD doesn’t track digital sales (such as Steam,) so there’s a good chance that DS2 managed to sell even more units than reported. The game’s strong performance is a win for the newly revamped THQ, a company which began the year with mounting losses, layoffs, and almost came close to being delisted from the stock exchange.

In a close second was New Super Mario Bros. 2, which managed to sell 240k in August. The masses still love Mario, despite the fact that NSMB2 seems to have gotten a significantly colder reception from hardcore fans and press alike than previous Mario games. Like Darksiders 2, NSMB2 was also available for download (a first for Nintendo,) so the NPD’s numbers might be underselling this game’s performance as well. Despite fan opinion being divided on the game (some think it’s just fine, others think the series is finally beginning to feel a little tired,) the strong sales of NSMB2 might be a good sign for the Wii U, as that system is scheduled to launch alongside a very similar looking Mario game later this Fall.

The rest of the top 10 is as follows:

Darksiders 2 (360, PS3, PC)
New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS)
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSV, PC)
Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3)
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360, PS3)
Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)
The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3, NDS, 3DS, Wii)

Notable no-shows on the list include XSeed’s US release of the long awaited The Last Story for Wii, and Atlus’ fighting game spinoff, Persona 4 Arena. Both of them are sort of niche titles, but it’s still kind of sad that these two critically acclaimed games didn’t manage to chart.

In sobering news, overall video game sales across all platforms continues to decline, as overall sales in August 2012 were down nine percent compared to the same period last year. This is a trend that’s characterized 2012 as a whole, and a lot of analysts are predicting that overall industry sales won’t see growth until the next-gen consoles show up sometime next year.

As for hardware, the Xbox 360 continues to be this generation’s king of longevity, selling about 190k. Despite the launch of the redesigned 3DS XL, total 3DS sales still lagged a bit behind Microsoft’s system. Still, even if it didn’t snag the top spot, the 3DS is managing to make a lot of money for Nintendo especially when you consider the platform had been pronounced as “doomed” by internet naysayers this time last year. Sony’s PS3 took a respectable third place spot this month, while the Wii, original DS, and sadly the PS Vita continued to sit neglected on store shelves.

September marks the beginning of the fall rush, and in October has mega-popular sequels Resident Evil 6 and Assassin’s Creed 3 in its line-up, so hopefully the industry’s luck will turn around as the holiday season gears up.

Source: The NPD Group, via Joystiq