Destiny was the bestselling video game in the United States last month, according to estimates from the NPD Group, and Sony Computer Entertainment America says Bungie's game helped nearly triple PlayStation 4 sales for the month.
A statement from Nintendo of America says one of its games, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, was also a big game hardware sales driver. Nintendo says it sold more than 705,000 copies of Super Smash Bros. — 135,000 of those through its eShop — during the two days it was on sale last month. That helped push 140,000 Nintendo 3DS systems during the month, a 55 percent increase month-to-month.
Nintendo announced last week it had sold 2.8 million copies of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS worldwide since launch. The company also said Wii U sales were up during September, driven by software sales of Hyrule Warriors and Mario Kart 8.
NPD's estimates for the month put Destiny at the top, with the stand-alone Xbox One version of the game outselling the other versions. But those figures don't account for copies of Destiny sold as part of a hardware bundle, and Sony sold PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 bundles that included a copy of the game. Microsoft also offered a free game promotion during the week of Destiny's release, which likely contributed to the game's popularity on Xbox One.
In a statement, Sony didn't provide any clear numbers for sales of Destiny on PS3 and PS4, but did say that the game helped make September the biggest month ever for PlayStation Store revenue. Destiny, Sony says, is currently the most-played PS4 game. It's also the "#1 platform worldwide for Destiny based on units sold through" as of Oct. 4, citing Activision's own numbers. Bungie said last week Destiny has about 3.2 million daily players in the month after its release.
We've reached out to Microsoft for comment on Xbox sales and its response to NPD Group data. It offered the following:
"We believe this will be one of our biggest holiday seasons ever. We're offering great Xbox One bundles aligned with the most anticipated game launches of the year, including Assassins Creed Unity, Sunset Overdrive and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and incredible deals for fans. Combined with blockbusters like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Grand Theft Auto 5, Destiny and Forza Horizon 2, we are committed to making Xbox One a great place to play this holiday."
The top ten bestselling games at retail for September in the U.S., according to NPD, were Destiny, Madden NFL 15, FIFA 15, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, NFL 15, Minecraft, The Sims 4, Disney Infinity 2.0 and Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls. NPD's numbers don't include digital sales or used sales.