News

U.S. Games Break $21b in 2008

NPD Group declares another record-setting year for games, as December tops $5b; Nintendo hardware and software lead the charge.

See also 2008 in Graphs

The U.S. videogames industry enjoyed another record-setting year in 2008, as software and hardware gained traction with mainstream audiences, NPD reported Thursday.

Total videogame sales (software, hardware, accessories) were $21.33 billion in 2008, a 19 percent year-on-year increase in spite of the poor economic climate.

For the month of December gaming retail generated $5.29 billion, the highest yet for one-month sales and a 9 percent year-on-year increase.

While the industry did break records, growth has slowed for the games industry--2007 saw a full-year revenue jump of 43 percent over 2006.

Hardware

December hardware was up just 2 percent in December to $1.88 billion. The Nintendo Wii drove monthly hardware sales with 2.15 million units sold, short of analyst estimates of over 3 million, but impressive nonetheless.

Xbox 360 sold 1.44 million, aided by a September price cut. "It was the biggest December in Xbox history," Xbox 360 group PR manager David Dennis told Edge in a phone interview. December 2007 saw Xbox 360 unit sales of 1.26 million.

"At the price point we're at and the content that we've got, we feel like we have a lot of momentum going into 2009," Dennis added.

Sony's PS3 sold 726K units, less than December 2007 when the console sold 798K. Sony Computer Entertainment SVP of marketing Peter Dille expressed optimism in a press statement: “The PlayStation brand has had a solid calendar year with total PS3 hardware sales up 40 percent and total PS3 software sales up 115 percent. We remain confident in our momentum into 2009 as we continue to deliver to our consumers the best entertainment content and technology out there."

The top-selling piece of hardware in December was the faithful Nintendo DS, with 3.04 million units sold. PSP sold 1.02 million units, on par with last year's sales.

Frazier said the DS is the first piece of hardware to sell over 3 million units in a single month.

Software

December software sales were topped by Wii Play (includes a Wii Remote), which sold 1.46 million units. Call of Duty: World at War for Xbox 360 moved 1.33 million and Wii Fit came in third for the month with 999K sold.

Total software revenues were up 26 percent year-on-year to $10.96 billion. NPD analyst Anita Frazier noted, "Software sales reached nearly $11 billion, which is more than total industry revenues were in 2005."

The rest of December's top 10 are below:

  1. Wii Play w/ Remote, Nintendo, 1.46m
  2. 360 Call of Duty: World at War, Activision, 1.33m
  3. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board, Nintendo, 999K
  4. Wii Mario Kart w/ Wheel, Nintendo, 979K
  5. Wii Guitar Hero World Tour, Activision, 850K
  6. 360 Gears of War 2, Microsoft, 745K
  7. 360 Left 4 Dead, EA, 629K
  8. NDS Mario Kart, Nintendo, 540K
  9. PS3 Call of Duty: World at War, Activision, 533K
  10. Wii Animal Crossing: City Folk, Nintendo, 497K

Includes special editions and bundles where applicable.

The top-selling games list for the U.S. in 2008 is topped by Nintendo Wii games:

  1. Wii Play w/ Remote, Nintendo, 5.28m
  2. Wii Mario Kart w/ Wheel, Nintendo, 5m
  3. Wii Fit w/ Balance Board, Nintendo, 4.53m
  4. Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo, 4.17m
  5. 360 Grand Theft Auto IV, Take-Two, 3.29m
  6. 360 Call of Duty: World at War, Activision, 2.75m
  7. 360 Gears of War 2, Microsoft, 2.31m
  8. PS3 Grand Theft Auto IV, Take-Two, 1.89m
  9. 360 Madden NFL 09, EA, 1.87m
  10. NDS Mario Kart, Nintendo, 1.65m

Includes special editions and bundles where applicable.

Accessories

Videogame accessories were up 8 percent for December to $662 million. For the full year, the category was up 14 percent.