Nintendo Leads Surging Gaming Segment
By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 11/18/2008
Port Washington, N.Y. — The U.S. retail sales may be suffering overall, but the video game segment is so far proving immune.
According to The NPD Group Video Game Industry sales report, October sales of gaming hardware and
|
Hardware Sales |
||||||||||||
|
software rose 18 percent to $1.3 billion compared with Oct. 2007. Year-to-date sales numbers were also impressive, with the category posting an overall 25 percent increase on $13.1 billion in sales.
In October, hardware accounted for $494.7 million, up 5 percent, while software generated 35 percent growth on $696.7 million in sales. Accessories were the only down spot for the month, showing an 8 percent fall off on $130.8 million in sales.
"The video games industry grew an impressive 18 percent year-over-year in the first month of the critical fourth quarter. With 10 months under its belt, the video games industry is still poised to top $22 billion in annual sales in 2008," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
Leading the game console charge was Nintendo’s with its Wii, selling 803,000 units during the month, and the DS with 491,000 units sold. Nintendo’s ability to increase supply of Wii systems helped boost its sales, Frazier said.
On the software side, October’s best seller was Microsoft’s just-released 360 Fable II, which sold 760,000 units.
|
NPD Group's U.S. Video Games Industry Sales - October 2008 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
