Overall

Per usual, sales of videogames weighed heavily in the fourth quarter, making up nearly half of total 2008 revenues, despite big non-Q4 releases such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Grand Theft Auto IV.



As seen below, not every month in 2008 exhibited growth over the prior year. Notably, September 2008 sales dipped on an exceedingly difficult comparison to September 2007, when Halo 3 launched. But for the vast majority of months, as exhibited by $21.33 billion in total annual sales, 2008 glided past 2007's $17.9 billion.



In the line graph below, one can almost see the "credit crunch" in the latter part of the year, but nevertheless consumers turned out for the holidays.



Frazier offered, "While industry growth has not continued at the blistering pace we saw during the second and third quarters, December's 9 percent increase over last December brings the year in 19 percent ahead of last year, and sets a new record for total industry sales."