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GAME INDUSTRY
Movie
production companies
have been expanding
to the video games
industry.
2007
was a banner year
for video gaming,
and the industry has
the figures to prove
it. The
Entertainment
Software Association
announced that total
sales for 2007 were
$18.85 billion, with
$9.5 billion of that
spent on games (both
PC and console) and
$9.35 billion on
consoles. The motion
picture industry saw
modest growth in
2007, reporting a
total box office
take of $9.66
billion, a modest
increase over 2006's
$9.49 billion.
Game
sales for the year
were weighted very
heavily in favor of
the consoles. In
fact, PC games
accounted for only
9.5 percent of total
gaming sales.
Portable software
sales (e.g., PSP and
DS) hit a record of
$2.0 billion, while
consoles accounted
for $6.6 billion in
sales. Altogether,
approximately 267.8
million games were
sold across all
platforms.
"The
video game industry
set the pace over
all others in 2007,
with record-breaking
sales,
off-the-charts
consumer demand, and
innovation reaching
from galactic
exploration to
guitar simulation,"
said ESA CEO and
president Michael D.
Gallagher. "On
average, an
astonishing 9 games
were sold every
second of every day
of the year."
[Growth of gaming in
2007 far outpaces
movies, music
By
Eric Bargeman
| Published: January
24, 2008 - 07:31PM
CT]
Data
source: NPD Group;
ESA; MPAA;
BoxOfficeMojo.com;
RIAA; IFPI
According to data
compiled by the NPD
Group, a global
market research
company, and
released by the ESA
in January 2008,
computer and video
game companies
posted records sales
in 2007. The
industry sold 267.8
million units,
leading to an
astounding $9.5
billion in revenue.
Of these sales:
-
Game console
software sales
totaled $6.6
billion with 153.9
million units
sold;
-
Computer games
sales were $910.7
million with 36.4
million units
sold; and,
-
There was a record
$2.0 billion in
portable software
sales with 77.5
million units
sold.
NPD's
research also
showed:
-
On
average, nine
games were sold
every second of
every day of 2007;
-
Halo 3, the
best-selling title
of 2007, took in
more revenue in
its first day of
sales than the
biggest opening
weekend ever for a
movie ("Spider-Man
3") and the final
"Harry Potter"
book's first day
sales; and,
-
The
entertainment
software industry
sold over 13.4
million portable
game units in
2007, easily
trumping the
much-hyped Apple
iPhone, which sold
just four million
units.
The
genre with the
greatest growth was
"Family
Entertainment,"
which grew 110
percent over the
previous year.
Family games
accounted to 17.2
percent of all games
sold in 2007, more
than one of every
six games sold, up
from 9.1 percent in
2006. In addition,
of the games sold in
2007, 56.6 percent
were rated "Early
Childhood (EC),"
"Everyone (E)" and
"Everyone 10+
(E10+)." The NPD
Group's data also
indicates that only
15 percent of games
sold last year were
rated "Mature (M)."
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