The ESA, Entertainment Software Association, announced this month that the numbers for 2007 have been released with software sales up 28 percent. The records, compiled by the NPD Group, show that the industry made $910.7 million in computer game sales and a record $2.0 billion in portable software sales. $6.6 billion was also made in sales for video game console software.
"Expansion was an overarching theme for the industry last year - from the types of games sold to the people who bought them," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "NPD's consumer demographic data verifies that two non-traditional consumer groups grew over-proportionately to the whole: females and individuals over the age of 35."
"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 Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, the U.S. association representing computer and video game software publishers. "On average, an astonishing 9 games were sold every second of every day of the year."
Breaking down the numbers by ratings, 56.5 percent of games sold were rated “Everyone 10+” or lower, 28 percent were rated “Teen” and 15.5 percent were rated “Mature”.
Family Entertainment grew 110 percent this past year. This is an increase of 8.1 percent from 2006.
Writer's note: Increase in females and individuals over the ages of 35? Sounds like casual games are making an impact everywhere. Please note that we believe these numbers from NPD and the ESA to be comprised only of retail sales and do not include connected casual games which according to the Casual Games Association is a 2.5 billion USD market.
[COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY REACHES $18.85 BILLION IN 2007]
