Sales of $9.9 billion for game industry @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on January 19, 2005

News: NPD is reporting that the video game industry took in $9.9 billion dollars in sales in 2004.

According to a report release by The NPD Group, U.S. Sales of video games reached $9.9 billion in 2004. This is compared to an even $10 billion in 2003.

For the first time ever, $1 billion of portable games were sold with the GBA and DS leading the charge. With the PSP coming in a few months, I'm sure 2005 will prove to be an even bigger year for portables. Total game sales were $6.2 billion, up from $5.8 billion the year before.

Not surprisingly, this increase in software was balanced out by a huge decrease in hardware sales as we near the end of the PS2/Xbox/Cube era.

"This year's positive sales results clearly reveal the increasing appeal of video game playing as a leisure time activity among the largest consumer base in the history of the industry," said Anita Frazier, Entertainment Industry Analyst, The NPD Group. "The successful launches of some of the highest quality and best marketed titles ever produced, drops in price points for hardware, as well as the introduction of new hardware systems all helped make 2004 another stellar year for the video games industry."

"The 2004 sales figures are impressive, especially as we enter the twilight of this hardware cycle, and more significantly, looking ahead, the video game industry shows no signs of slowing down," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. "No other entertainment industry has posted the sustained growth over the last decade generated by the video game sector, and given the technological and creative advances ahead, all signs point to surging growth and more record sales for many years to come."

The NPD Group also revealed which titles sold the most copies. No GameCube titles were able to crack the top 10. Pokemon FireRed came in at number 6, but LeafGreen was nowhere to be seen. And Sega showed that a lower MSRP can drive sales as both versions of ESPN NFL 2K5 made the cut.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
Halo 2 (Xbox)
Madden NFL 2005 (PS2)
ESPN NFL 2K5 (PS2)
Need For Speed Underground 2 (PS2)
Pokemon FireRed (GBA)
NBA Live 2005 (PS2)
Spider-Man 2 (PS2)
Halo (Xbox)
ESPN NFL 2K5 (Xbox)