Canadians spent a record $2 billion on video games last year, fuelled by a $500 million pre-Christmas spending spree.
According to the NPD Group, which tracks the industry, video game sales including hardware, software and accessories totalled $2.1 billion in 2008, up 32.7% over the $1.6 billion spent the previous year.
Despite the economic downtown, December sales were a whopping $502.8 million—up 27% from $396 million in the year earlier period. The NPD Group figures do not include PC gaming.
“People were spending money on entertaining themselves,” said Matthew Tattle of the NPD Group.
Tattle said global positioning systems and small screen LCD TVs also sold well over the holidays.
The video game industry enjoyed another year to remember in 2007—the first full year that all three next-generation consoles were on the market—when sales were up 56% from the previous year.
So will it keep cash registers ringing?
“The video game industry definitely has the potential to grow… but there’s definitely no industry out there that’s recession-proof,” Tattle said, noting that companies like Electronic Arts have closed studios or consolidated in recent months.
Sales last year were helped by Grand Theft Auto IV, whose April release prompted an early rush to stores. There is no marquee title coming out early this year, although PS3 owners will be looking to Killzone 2 late next month.
It was another banner year for Nintendo, which accounted for 28% of the Canadian video game market. The NPD Group did not break down the market percentage for Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation systems.
The Nintendo Wii led console sales for the year with 838,000 units—up 42% over 2007, when 591,000 units were sold—ahead of Xbox 360 at 485,000 and PlayStation 3 at 422,000.
Nintendo also sold 966,000 units of its portable DS last year, compared to 591,000 in 2007.
“A great year for them,” said Tattle.
The top-selling game for the year across all platforms was the original Rock Band, which edged out Grand Theft Auto 4. Filling out the top five were Mario Kart for the Wii, Wii Fit and Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.
