August 2017 NPD: Madden NFL 18 spikes the sales charts

Video game spending is down in the U.S. in August. The only exception to the downward trend is the accessories category, which is up 10 percent according to the industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. And it was a good month for Electronic Arts, too.

Consumers spent a total of $282 million on software for both PC and consoles last month, down 3 percent from the year before. EA was the best-selling publisher in August, and Madden NFL 18, which debuted on August 25, was the overall top-selling game for the month as well as for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.