August NPD: PS3 sales soar as gamers go batty for Arkham Asylum in a Madden world

This year's August NPD sales numbers were, as usual, dominated by EA's monolithic Madden franchise -- but who's that creeping out of the shadows? "I'm Batman."
Rocksteady, Warner Bros. and Eidos officially have themselves a critical and commercial hit in Batman: Arkham Asylum, with the game having sold more than half a million copies across PS3 and 360 in its first week on sale. Even the Joker can't laugh at sales like that.
Hardware saw a slight increase for the month, with the exception of PS3, which saw an impressive 72% jump in sales, no doubt due to early sales of the lower-priced 120GB slim SKU. Wii is still the best-selling home console, but its numbers are gradually dipping down into "maybe we should consider a price cut, too" territory. Here's how sales of the stuff we play are games on stacked up:
Rocksteady, Warner Bros. and Eidos officially have themselves a critical and commercial hit in Batman: Arkham Asylum, with the game having sold more than half a million copies across PS3 and 360 in its first week on sale. Even the Joker can't laugh at sales like that.
Hardware saw a slight increase for the month, with the exception of PS3, which saw an impressive 72% jump in sales, no doubt due to early sales of the lower-priced 120GB slim SKU. Wii is still the best-selling home console, but its numbers are gradually dipping down into "maybe we should consider a price cut, too" territory. Here's how sales of the stuff we play are games on stacked up:
-DS: 553K
14K (+2%)-Wii: 277K
24K (+9%)-360: 215K
12K (+6%)-PS3: 210K
88K (+72%)-PSP: 140K
17K (+13%)-PS2: 106K
2K (-2%Check out the software sales chart after the break.
- Madden NFL 10 - 360 - EA - 928K
- Wii Sports Resort (w/ Wii Motion Plus) - Wii - Nintendo - 754K
- Madden NFL 10 - PS3 - EA - 665K
- Batman: Arkham Asylum* - 360 - Eidos - 303K
- Batman: Arkham Asylum* - PS3 - Eidos - 290K
- Madden NFL 10 - PS2 - EA - 160K
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy - PSP - Square Enix - 130K
- Wii Fit (w/ Balance Board) - Wii - Nintendo - 128K
- Mario Kart (w/ Wheel) - Wii - Nintendo - 120K
- Fossil Fighters - DS - Nintendo - 92K











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
sony boy (6 years til sony man child!) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:16PM
dissidia and batman...yyeaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:17PM
So much for that Wolfenstein bet :P
Sly Cooper, Attorney at Law @ Sep 10th 2009 8:20PM
haha, that's the first thing i thought too.
WiredKnight @ Sep 10th 2009 8:21PM
Yea I was wondering what happened to that. They didn't even come close.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:49PM
I doubt anyone took that seriously...lol
iluvmyzune @ Sep 10th 2009 8:18PM
guess the joker challenge rooms pushed batman on the ps3. thats why i bought it.
WiredKnight @ Sep 10th 2009 8:20PM
I really wanted it on PS3 for the same reason, but my girlfriend (and I) have a 360, so it was more economical to split the 360 version.
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:19PM
I just now noticed that Batman is holding a football...
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:22PM
thats not just ANY ole football....it has a sonic emitter that drives Jokers goons crazy!!!
-"Geez will someone shut that thing up"
-"The Bats Messin with us!!"
Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:23PM
Wilson is his friend...
[ArchiGamer] @ Sep 10th 2009 8:26PM
He's always been a fan of the Knights...
Electro Poof [Super Nintendo IT ONLY DOES EVERYTHING - Now Only $29.99] @ Sep 10th 2009 8:39PM
That's not a football, that's an egg.
This is a Football:http://www.topnews.in/sports/files/football%20medium_0.jpg
The Dark Wayne @ Sep 10th 2009 9:15PM
dont get your panties in a bunch asshole.
Special Agent Steve @ Sep 10th 2009 10:07PM
That is some resilient egg he's got there.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:20PM
Damn Madden sucked ass in Sales...Arkham Asylum sales were pretty close to each other on each console...I find it funny that the PS2 Version of Madden Outsold the Wii Version when the Wii Version was suppose to be "Specifically made" for Wii...Wii Sports Resort Got Knocked from the top at least....
As for the Console Sales...Well they are not too shabby...but most people that got a PS3 in August just wanted a PS3 and the Price drop ran them too it...some didnt even know about the Slim was coming...So September Sales I think will be much higher than this....easily Double this month....
HighFiveJesus @ Sep 10th 2009 8:29PM
What self respecting football fan buy the wii version anyway?? Even the cover art looked tamer and family friendly.
Its nice to see some numbers other than wii fit and mario kart and wii play.
And batman did very well, very much close to a tie being its north america, xbox land. buuuuyy american!
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:43PM
lol...sadly I know a guy that got it because a Gamestop employee talked him into it...saying it had "improved controls" ROFLMAO!!
And yea Arkham Asylum is damn near as close as I thought it would be.....would be nice to see other Multi-platform games do that....but something tells me MW2 will be a couple hundred thousand apart and Assassin's Creed might be as well....
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:53PM
Gamestop employees could be the most clueless people on earth.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 9:00PM
yea I know...terrible...
lsutiger988 @ Sep 10th 2009 11:49PM
you guys just go to gamestops with terrible employees, not all are like that
Pantsparty @ Sep 10th 2009 8:20PM
This is great for Eidos. Maybe their Overlord Masters will give them a longer leash.
ottoman673 @ Sep 10th 2009 8:21PM
I was about to say "YES! NO Wii titles in the top 5."
Then i saw Wii Sports Resort...
regardless. Madden and Batman raped this bitch.
mr nimblewick @ Sep 10th 2009 9:05PM
Celebrating Madden at #1? What is the world coming to?
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 9:07PM
Please stop...you seriously make me never want to play gears again because everytime I see that face I think dumb fuck...
Mr Khan @ Sep 10th 2009 9:12PM
That's the fun of it. Last generation, everyone mocked fans of GTA and Halo, and especially Madden, for being mainstream sellout games, but their hatred of the new breed of Wii titles have made such old Elitist tastes quite obsolete.
[ArchiGamer] @ Sep 10th 2009 9:32PM
My word, such language..
Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:22PM
Well done, Sony, well done...*Starts slowly clapping* Clap with me, my friends, clap with me.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:26PM
I'll wait for Next Month with the 300k-450k sales numbers....
goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:27PM
And next-next month with two PSP models on shelves.
HighFiveJesus @ Sep 10th 2009 8:30PM
Doubt they will be that high. 250K is more like it.
Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:33PM
So...you won't clap with me?
[ArchiGamer] @ Sep 10th 2009 8:33PM
Well, dare I say, a 100 BILLION!!
*puts pinky finger near mouth*
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:36PM
lol@ "next-next" month....I am Curious too see how Good the PSP Go sells tho...I mean My Guess is if it doesnt break 2.5 million Globally for the year they will drop the price by February....which is what I hope happens
Fernando Rocker @ Sep 10th 2009 8:42PM
Aggie
Make some room on your PSN Friend List... I can't add you.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:44PM
Fernando send me a message and I will add you that way...believe it or not if I make room now and you take longer than 10 minutes to add me I will get like 2-3 invites....lol
Cody @ Sep 10th 2009 9:09PM
Can't stop the Wii!!!
Sly Cooper, Attorney at Law @ Sep 10th 2009 9:26PM
oh look, cody took nintendo's wii out of his mouth for a second to say a response.
[ArchiGamer] @ Sep 10th 2009 8:23PM
Great to see everyone enjoying a sales spike, especially Sony, as they desperately needed it.
[ArchiGamer] @ Sep 10th 2009 8:25PM
Also, Nintendo better damn as well release new colors for the Wii!!
MAKE IT SO NINTENDO!!
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:27PM
yea I want a Black Wii
deaftly @ Sep 10th 2009 8:29PM
don't you already have one?
/sorry
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:30PM
??
[ArchiGamer] @ Sep 10th 2009 8:30PM
Uhh, yes?
[I presume you are talking to me...?]
Bradwart @ Sep 10th 2009 8:31PM
I'd rather have a stinking price cut rather than new colors.
Not that Nintendo will do either.
Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Sep 10th 2009 8:34PM
I got a blue Wii, because I'm DR. MANHATTAN.
Sly Cooper, Attorney at Law @ Sep 10th 2009 8:49PM
aggie, it was a dick joke.
[ArchiGamer] @ Sep 10th 2009 8:50PM
Wow, that flew right over me as well...
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Sep 10th 2009 8:50PM
not to me its not...I may have called it a "weewee" when I was a lil kid.....but damn if its ANYWHERE near a simple "weewee" now....
P @ Sep 10th 2009 11:19PM
*rolls eyes*
The Dark Wayne @ Sep 10th 2009 8:40PM
Fuck you sport resort!