PC Games Account For Only 14% Of Video Gaming Market
Recent data from the sales-tracking firm NPD reveal some potentially troubling figures for PC game developors.
Data from the sales-tracking firm NPD reveals that retailers sold 267.8 million games in 2007. PC titles accounted for 36.4 million units, while console games brought in $6.6 billion and 153.9 million units. Portable software brought in a record $2 billion, with 77.5 million units sold.
U.S. sales of video games, which includes portable and console hardware, software and accessories, generated revenues of almost $18 billion, a 43 percent increase over the $12.5 billion generated in 2006.
Retail sales in the PC game software industry reached $911 million in 2007, bringing the total console, portable and PC game industry to $18.8 billion, a 40 percent increase over the $13.5 billion generated in 2006.
All video game categories experienced double-digit percentage increases, led by console hardware, which generated $5.12 billion in sales, a 73 percent increase over the $2.96 billion generated by that category in 2006. Portable game software, portable game hardware and video game accessories categories saw respective dollar sales increases of 18 percent, 19 percent and 52 percent when compared to 2006.
Including PC games, total industry software sales reached $9.5 billion, a 28 percent increase over the $7.4 billion generated in 2006
"NPD's consumer data uncovered some interesting trends to follow during the current console transition," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "For example, the 35 years of age and older demographic realized the greatest percentage growth, driven by software and accessories acquisitions, while the greatest increase in hardware sales came from the 'core' 18-34 year old demographic."
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