Games outsold DVD and Blu-ray last year

According to sales figures from Media Control GfK International, the video games industry managed to outsell both DVD and Blu-ray combined last year thanks to a huge growth in the format.

The sales figures show that while DVD and Blu-ray sales dropped by six percent last year, videogames grew by a staggering 20 percent and grew a lead over movie formats of more than £1.5 billion GBP.

According to the analysts at Media Control a huge amount of this growth comes down to the popularity of the Nintendo DS and Wii platforms, says GI.biz.

The continued popularity of the DS and Wii is expected to introduce yet more people to gaming and drive sales in the industry ever upwards. Media Control predicts that by the end of this year game sales will account for more than 57 percent of all packaged media sales, which is an increase of more than four percent on last year.

Software sales themselves are expected to grow by another 12 percent in the next 12 months, while the decline in DVD and Blu-ray is set to accelerate.

The sales figures fit well with often heard notion that the videogame industry as a whole may prove largely resilient to the economic downturn, thanks to the increased longevity and replayability of games over other forms of entertainment.

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