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posted by CoolHand on Friday January 25 2019, @04:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the would-you-like-to-play-a-game dept.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/us-video-game-sales-hit-43-billion-2018-1178345

Video game revenue reached a new high in the U.S. last year, soaring to $43.4 billion, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and The NPD Group. That figure represents an 18 percent increase from 2017.

Software sales — which posted an 18 percent growth in revenue year-over-year, up from $35.8 billion — were fueled by megahits such as Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 (the year's top-selling game in the U.S.), Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Marvel's Spider-Man, God of War and Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Meanwhile, hardware sales also increased significantly from 2017 to 2018. Up 15 percent, hardware revenue (which includes peripherals such as controllers, VR headsets and plug-and-play consoles like the SNES Classic and PlayStation Classic) grossed $7.5 billion across all three major consoles, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

[...] The gaming industry's 2018 total revenue eclipsed the record North American box office last year. Ticket sales for the year hit $11.9 billion, compared to the previous $11.4 billion record set in 2016. Meanwhile, music industry revenue in the U.S. for the first half of 2018 came in at $4.6 billion, according to an RIAA report in September, suggesting that when total year-end numbers are released, they will fall well short of the gaming industry's total.

The latest figures show that gaming is the top money-driving entertainment industry in the U.S., as well as globally. According to a report last week by Nielsen's SuperData Research division, global digital revenue (which doesn't include sales from consoles or physical copies of games) reached $109.8 billion in 2018 (up 11 percent year-over-year). That number was driven largely by the success of Epic Games' Fortnite, which alone made $2.4 billion last year and solidified itself as a cultural phenomenon worldwide. 


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