Video Games Outsell DVDs? Not Quite.

July 3rd, 2008 by Erich Jurgens in Culture, News, Offbeat

Earlier today a report came out suggesting that US game sales had actually surpassed DVD sales. Results of the Entertainment Merchants Association annual report showed that games brought in more sales than movie theaters last year, and for the first time, DVD sales.

Unfortunately, they initially neglected to tell us that game sales included not only games, but also software, hardware, and even accessories. That’s a bit like telling me traffic to your blackhat forum is at 30k visitors per day, but that 75% of it is the same few people clicking over and over and responding to threads. It’s deceptive and doesn’t paint the whole picture. In the report, DVD sales included only the sale of DVDs, not all the additional hardware and accessories you need to watch them, so it was a bit like comparing apples to oranges. The report cited DVD sales at $16 billion for 2007, box offices at $9.6 billion, and games at $18.85 billion. Subtracting all the accessories and hardware, and ONLY counting games sold, game sales amounts to just $8.64 billion.

Video games may one day outsell movies, but that day isn’t yet, and doesn’t look like it will be happening anytime soon.

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