2005 Game Sales Set Record

Despite a Holiday slump, 2005 game sales hit all-time highs. Gamasutra reports: "The growth was largely driven through an expanding market for handheld systems. Previously dominated by Nintendo's Game Boy series, 2005 saw the market expand to comfortably support three handhelds: the existing Game Boy Advance, Nintendo's 'third pillar' in the Nintendo DS, and Sony's PlayStation Portable. Portable software sales rose to $1.4 billion, a rise of 42 percent over 2004. The Game Boy Advance, due to its longer lifespan and greater install base, still took the majority of the handheld game market, claiming 52 percent of portable game sales."

Comments

Home Consoles Did Terribly

[Anonymous Coward]

If it weren't for the extremely strong sales of the Nintendo DS and the launch of the Sony PSP, 2005 would've been a horrible year, so the analysts' concerns were completely warranted. The home console market is going stagnant because of increased prices for consumers and a lack of original content. I don't see how that is even disputable...sales of home console hardware and software was dismal in 2005, even considering that the current generation is ending. It seems like only Nintendo has figured that out, which is why 2006 will bring a dramatically new product in the Revolution. If affordable enough for non-traditional gamers, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Revolution carried the industry in 2006, 2007, and beyond. Only time will tell which direction the industry is truly headed.

Check NintendoPlayers.com for weekly industry sales numbers, information about the Revolution, and the direction of the industry once the console launches.

Re:Wow, GBA still rockin'

[Anonymous Coward]

In the last week of 2005, the number of XBox 360s sold was approximately 1/32nd of DS sales the same week. By comparison, the PSP sold about a third of total DS sales that week. See, it's not doing so bad!