August Game Sales Up 17.5 Percent

The game industry continues to defy analyst expectations as August game sales beat last year’s numbers.

NPD, a game market tracking group, reports that game sales are up 17.5 percent over August of 2005 thanks in part to Madden 2007, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Capcom’s Dead Rising. While “current-gen” console such as the Xbox an PS2 have seen declines in overall sales, the “next-gen” systems (Xbox 360, DS) have picked up more slack than analysts expected early in 2006.

Hardware sales have been brisk for the Nintendo DS, selling over 270,000 units in August. The PS2 sold similar numbers while the Xbox 360 followed at 200,000 units sold. Finally, the Game Boy Advance moved 150,000 units with the Sony PSP following close behind.