2007 Video Game Sales Soar by Record-Shattering 43%

This just in: the U.S. video games industry shot up an astonishing 43% in 2007 with chart-busting performance in every product category. You've heard me mention record-breaking figures to come? How's $17.9 billion (versus $12.53B in 2006) in total sales grab you?

Says number crunching firm NPD's Anita Frazier, "While hardware sales realized the greatest percentage growth over 2006 due to the closely scrutinized console hardware transition, each category under the video games industry umbrella reached their own 'personal bests' in terms of annual sales."

December 2007 was by itself startlingly lucrative, with total sales of $4.82B, up 28% from December 2006's $3.8B. Console software led the charge, up 47% to $1.8B over 2006's $1.2B, with video game accessories landing the second best increase at $622k, up 37% over 2006's $455k. December's console hardware sales rose 21% over 2006, from $1.1B to $1.3B, and portable game hardware understandably brought up the rear at $526k, a 7% increase that seems low only because portable sales were stratospheric going in.

The NPD U.S. console sales breakdown:

Note the following:

1. The Wii predictably clobbered the PS3 and handily bested the Xbox 360, but the latter was neck-and-neck with the Wii in the one month that mattered most (December).

2. The DS beat the holy bologna out of everyone here, and with well in excess of 50 million units sold worldwide, if this keeps up, I'm pretty sure it's going to eventually trounce the PS2's sales record of over 100 million.

3. The PSP appears to be doing quite well at $1.1m, especially if you compare it to the rest of the power-consoles. It's really a mini-PS2, after all, and the recent size and cost shrink seem to be helping it along nicely.

4. The PS2 had a terrific year, beating its younger sibling by 1.4 million and change. That's a little unreal, and speaks volumes about how much gamers care about buy-time cost. The PS3 is going to have to come down sharply in price if it wants to survive 2008.

5. Add Sony's total take and you get 10.35 million in hardware sales, soundly thrashed by Nintendo's 14.79 million, but dramatically more than Microsoft's 4.62 million. Diversity clearly remained the soul of profit in 2007.

6. According to NPD's Frazier, the availability crisis surrounding the Wii didn't help the Xbox 360 or PS3 so much as the PS2. That's a guesstimate on her part, but it makes economic sense.

Top Selling Games, December 2007

1.5m - Call of Duty 4 [Xbox 360]
1.4m - Super Mario Galaxy [Wii]
1.3m - Guitar Hero III [PS2]
1.1m - Wii Play [Wii]
894k - Assassin's Creed [Xbox 360]
743k - Halo 3 [Xbox 360]
660k - Brain Age 2 [DS]
655k - Madden NFL '08 [PS2]
625k - Guitar Hero III [Xbox 360]
613k - Mario and Sonic [Wii]

NPD's Frazier On Halo 3: "Halo 3 captured the top-spot in single-game sales for the year selling 4.8 million units at retail. This performance certainly puts it among the elite in gaming history with performance similar to that of GTA: Vice City in 2002, and GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2 in 2004."

Top Selling Games, 2007

4.8m - Halo 3 [Xbox 360]
4.1m - Wii Play [Wii]
3.0m - Call of Duty 4 [Xbox 360]
2.7m - Guitar Hero III [PS2]
2.5m - Super Mario Galaxy [Wii]
2.5m - Pokemon Diamond [DS]
1.9m - Madden NFL '08 [PS2]
1.9m - Guitar Hero 2 [PS2]
1.8m - Assassin's Creed [Xbox 360]
1.8m - Mario Party 8 [Wii]

NPD's Frazier on 2008: "While I wouldn't count on similar growth in 2008, I would expect to see 2008 increase over 2007, with more growth (proportionately) coming from software sales. While we will continue to see strong hardware sales, particularly if prices come down again, the spotlight now turns from hardware to software."

Comments

Good, now we might even get some decent games for both the 360 AND the PS3.

Yuffiek133

January 18, 2008

6:44 AM PT