The NPD Group has released its monthly sales figures for August today, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution being the best-selling game in the month despite being on store shelves for only five days.
NPD tracks new, physical sales at retail in the United States. The tracking period for August includes everything from July 31 through August 27. As Madden NFL 12 came out on August 30, it’ll count towards September’s sales figures. Its absence had a huge impact on sales during August — software sales were down 34 percent as compared with last year, from $403.5 million to $264.8 million.
NCAA Football 12 was the second best-selling game during August. NPD analyst Anita Frazier points out that this year’s NCAA sold better in August than last year’s title did in August 2010, possibly due to football fans opting to pick it up this year with no Madden release to provide their fix earlier in the month.