• Business Week, Monday, January 15, 2007 10:30 AM

After a tepid few years, the video-game industry rebounded last year. Strong December sales capped off a record year from the industry, though hardware in particular drove the industry to $12.5 billion in total sales in the U.S., according to NPD Group's sales figures. 2007 should be another burgeoning year of growth for the industry, as the new consoles from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft penetrate the market deeper, and publishers produce more and higher quality games.

Even so, it was the old guard that carried the market over the crucial holiday season, partly due to the scarcity of new consoles. Nintendo sold the most, followed by Sony and Microsoft. But it should be noted that the former two also sell portable consoles, while Microsoft does not.

In December, Nintendo's DS outsold all other consoles, with 1.6 million units. Sony's PS2 was a surprising second, with sales of 1.4 million, while it sold 490,000 PS3s (687,000 since its November launch). The Wii, Nintendo's new console, sold 604,000 units in December, and 1.1 million since its launch.
Microsoft sold 1.1 million Xbox 360s in December, with 4.5 million total since the console launched a little more than a year ago. In all, hardware sales were $4.6 billion, up 43%, compared to 2006. Software sales were $6.5 billion, up 6%, while accessories surged 19% to $1.5 billion.

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