Video game industry racks up $22 billion in sales in 2008 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on January 30, 2009

News: It looks like the Wii isn't the only game system that prints money.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced that the video game industry surpassed $22 billion in sales in 2008, a new all time high. This ridiculously large number includes all new hardware, software and peripheral sales.

All told, 189 million copies of console games ($8.9 billion), 29.1 million copies of PC games ($701.4 million) and 79.5 million copies of portable software ($2.1 billion) were sold.

Here is a few other fun facts from the front lines of video game sellers (all information comes from the NPD Group or the ESRB):

The $22 billion figure represents a 22.9% increase over 2007.

Game software sales accounted for $11.7 billion of the $22 billion total.

December sales accounted for $5.3 billion, the highest single month ever. For comparison's sake, the video game industry managed only $5.1 billion in sales over the entire year in 1997.

Finally, the ESA and ESRB broke game sales down by ESRB rating:
E For Everyone - 45.3%
Everyone 10 and Older (E10+) - 12.1%
T For Teen - 26.7%
M For Mature - 15.9%