The US video game industry proved its resilience to recession in December with the latest figures from the NPD research firm showing 9 per cent growth on the previous year and revenues topping $5bn in a single month for the first time.
Nevertheless, growth is definitely slowing – down from 18 per cent in October – and console revenues only rose 2 per cent on the previous year.
Nintendo was again the big winner with 2.1m Wiis sold and 3m units of its DS handheld console, bringing their total sales in the US in 2008 to around 10m each.
The company also dominated software sales. Wii Play, which comes with an extra remote, came out as long ago as February 2007, but was the number-one best-seller in December with 1.5m copies sold. It was also the year’s best-seller at 5.3m units.
Its Mario Kart with wheel accessory, Wii Fit with balance board and Super Smash Bros: Brawl took the next three places in annual sales, with Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto IV the nearest challenger to Nintendo’s domination.
Denise Kaigler, head of marketing, told me in an interview there had been plentiful supplies of Wiis in the stores this year, although the Wii Fit was more difficult to find, suggesting sales would have been higher if Nintendo had been able to meet demand. She said there was no official date yet for the release of the new Nintendo DSi in the US in 2009.
Microsoft sold 1.44m Xbox 360s in December, almost double the 0.73m PS3s sold by Sony, which also sold 1.02m PlayStation Portable units and 0.41m PS2s.
Despite trailing in the next-generation console race, Sony said it was on target to meet its fiscal goal of selling 10m PS3s worldwide in the year to the end of March. This week, it announced the PS2 had passed the 50m sales mark in the US, eight years after its launch. Around 500m games have been sold for the console in that time.
NPD said December’s $5.3bn brought 2008 sales of hardware, software and peripherals, to $21.3bn, up 19 per cent on 2007.
“We get asked a lot why there are so many layoffs and studio closings occurring in the industry when it has just realised another record-breaking year,” said Anita Frazier, NPD analyst.
“This is not a case of the rising tide lifting all boats. The increases are not being enjoyed equally by all manufacturers and publishers.”
