Combined sales of software for PCs and home video game platforms reached $7.3 billion in 2004, according to a report this week from The NPD Group and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The figure represents sales of games only (no accessories or hardware are included in the figure).
According to the data, video game sales reached $5.2 billion (160.7 million units), computer games sales sold $1.1 billion (45 million units), and portable games sold $1 billion (42.3 million units)--totaling 248 million units. These figures compare to 239.3 million games sold and revenues of $7 billion in 2003.
Twelve game titles sold more than 1 million units each in 2004. Fifty games sold more than 500,000 units, and 197 exceeded 250,000 units. Among PC games, two titles sold more than 500,000 units, and 18 broke the 250,000 mark. Overall, gamers most often purchased action (30.1 percent), sports (17.8 percent), and first- and third-person shooter titles (9.6 percent). Children and family entertainment titles represented 9.5 percent of sales, followed by racing titles (9.4 percent), role-playing games (9 percent), and fighting games (5.4 percent).
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