Originally Posted by NPD's Anita Frazier:
"Even following a red-hot 2007, the video games industry shows no sign of letting up as year-to-date sales through February are up 12% over last year. Taking the extra week of sales included in the 2007 figures, on a comparable weeks basis, 2008 is up approximately 26% over last year (through February)."
"As one would expect moving into this portion of the console lifecycle, the focus is once again upon software sales. Software sales are up 47% for the month of February and 43% for the year on a comparable weeks sales basis. With several marquee titles still to come in the front half of the year, the industry is poised to achieve another year of record-breaking sales despite difficult economic conditons."
"While hardware inventory issues at retail may still be lingering post-holiday, the fact that all now-gen systems generated significant year-over-year hardware sales increases indicates the situation is coming into balance faster than it did last year."
"I was most surprised by the PS2 hardware sales numbers this month. While it certainly has earned its spot among the now-gen slate of console systems because of it staying power in the marketplace, the fact that it realized such significant growth this month is really a testament to its broad adoption and the response of consumers to promotional activity at retail."
Brian ZuckerGeneral PR Manager, VGChartzbzucker@vgchartz.com
