Horror games rack up big sales in 2009

It’s been a really good year for games about really bad guys, according to data from everyone’s favorite industry pundit Michael Pachter.

According to the Wedbush Morgan securities analyst, horror-based video games account for more than $147 million in sales this year through September 2009. Horror games sales for all of 2008 totaled only $131 million.

Leading the pack was Resident Evil 5, the newest installment in the Capcom franchise credited with starting the “survival horror” genre. RE5 moved 1.94 million units according to data from market research firm The NPD Group. Pachter said that accounts for more than half of the horror genre sales to this point. That genre number is certain to grow November 17, 2009, when zombie sequel Left 4 Dead 2 hits shelves, along with Wii exclusive Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

A somewhat surprising entry is the game based on the Saw film series. Konami, famous for scary games series including Castlevania and Silent Hill (which receives a new installment in December 2009), picked up the rights to Saw from the ashes of Brash Entertainment. While movie-based games are notorious for being horrible, Saw has received some decent reviews.

Gamers like to be scared as much as moviegoers. The good news for the game industry being that it can charge $60 instead of $10 for its scary experience.

Read [Reuters] Also Read [Gamertell]