February 4th, 2006

Top-selling console games in 2005: Madden NFL 06, Pokemon Emerald, Gran Turismo 4

Posted by ZDNet Research @ 2:10 pm

Categories: Consoles

Tags:

According to The NPD Group, annual 2005 US retail sales of video games, which includes console and portable hardware, software and accessories, saw sales of over $10.5 bln, a 6% increase over the $9.9 bln generated in 2004 and another industry record, exceeding the previous record-breaking $10.3 bln generated in 2002. For the second year in a row, sales of portable software titles broke the $1 bln mark, generating $1.4 bln in the US Portable game hardware, software and accessory categories saw respective dollar increases of 96%, 42% and 88% over 2004.

The console market did not fare as well, due in large part to hardware shortages, delays in the release of highly anticipated software titles and consumer anticipation of next-generation hardware. For 2005, console hardware, software and accessories saw respective dollar sales declines of 3%, 12% and 8% compared to 2004. While strong sales of hardware, software and accessories for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP helped drive another record breaking year for the industry, the backbone of the portable market continues to be Nintendo’s GBA. In 2005, GBA software represented 64% of total portable software units sold and 52% of total portable software dollar sales.