Bad Economy? Not for Video Gaming!

The US video game industry continues to grow despite the bad economy. Though spending cuts are prevalent in all parts of life and in all kinds of industry, the video game industry grew 13% from January 2008. The industry now sits at $1.33 billion strong. This growth is well above the the overall consumer spending growth rates.

  • Is anyone concerned how gaming spend is going up in a time when spending is being cut elsewhere due to economic troubles?
  • What does this say about the culture we live in…


In January 2009, Microsoft Xbox 360 sales increased 34% while Nintendo saw a whopping 148% growth on their Wii consoles (statistics by NPD Group). Sony Playstation 3 saw a third consecutive decrease in Sales. Console and Hardware constituted a 17% growth outpacing Software Games which was up by 10%.

“At this point in the console lifecycle, we would expect to see a greater percentage of total industry sales generated by software sales, but the continued strength in hardware sales is changing that scenario a bit,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier wrote in an e-mail accompanying the monthly stats. “This will have a long-term positive impact on the industry as the user base expands.”

David Dennis, a spokesman for Xbox, said that he attributed the strength in the video game industry to people “cocooning” at home during bad economic times seeking out cheap entertainment rather than going out to social activities. Microsoft had its biggest single month growth game in subscribers to their online gamer community.

Great news for the gaming industry, but it is sad that as economies worsen, people are spending more time at home playing games to either save money or just cope with the economy the way it is.

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1 Comment

  1. HARDWARE SALES FOR 360 ARE STRONG CAUSE LOYAL FANS KEEP BUYING NEW ONES CAUSE THEY KEEP BREAKING. ALONG WITH THE NEW BUYERS IT MAKES ALOT OF SALES. IF MICROSOFT HAD TO RELY ON FIRST TIME 360 BUYERS THEY WOULD HAVE WAY LESS UNITS SOLD.

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