It was bound to happen and now the numbers show that it has: In 2008, video game sales surpassed sales of DVD and Blu-ray movies.

According to a report from Media Control GfK International as cited by CD Freaks, games were responsible for 53 percent of entertainment pulling in $32 billion. Those figures don’t include rentals of either movies or games.

That’s a 30 percent increase for games over 2007 numbers. Driving the increase is the…

If you think the gaming industry is a sure fire way to make some money, you are way off.

According to Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR), only 20% of games that hit the market make a decent profit. That means that 80% of the games you see on shelves are either losing profits or barely breaking even.

A game may be very successful but the company still doesn’t make a profit because of all the added expenses that went into the game. Every time you rework or redesign a part of the game, you have to fork over some extra cash. If you decide to add in extra features to the game, such as online play, you gotta open up the wallet. And adding multiplayer, is it worth an extra 500 Gs?

According to Geoffrey Zatkin, co-founder of EEDAR (as interviewed by Game Daily), there are several factors that determines what will

The two biggest stereotypes when it comes to gamers are a) that they are kids and b) they are males. A recent study put out by, IBISWorld, Inc. (one of the nation’s most respected independent publishers of business intelligence research), indicates that the complete opposite it true.

Results of the study suggest that most of the current gamers are older adults and may of those are – you guessed it – women.

According to the study, the average purchaser of games in the U.S. is 39, which means these adults started playing video games when they were teenagers and haven’t stopped. As if that’s not enough, 24% of current gamers today are…

CNET recently posted a list of the year’s top five selling games (thus far), and the results will surprise no one. GTA IV (on PS3 and Xbox 360) was the top dog, followed by a trio of Wii-specific titles: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit, followed by the multi-platform Guitar Hero III. It’s interesting to note that three of the top five came bundled with a non-traditional controller apparatus, be it the Wii Wheel, a Wii Balance Board, or the GH guitar.

From the post:

We all knew that music games (like Guitar Hero and Rock Band) were huge and possibly driving sales, but a recent GameDaily post illustrates just how important the “it” genre has become. The post states that “music games have been a “key driver” this year, with “sales of music-themed games responsible for 19% of overall more »

It’s time for a little pre-NPD predicting: GameDaily has the scoop on three major industry analysts’ takes on July sales. Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter, EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich and Lazard Capital Markets’ Colin Sebastian all predicted serious growth and Wii dominance (shocking!), though each had different specifics. Pachter predicted 44% growth in overall software sales and more »

It looks like Sony’s finally turned the tables on it’s shaky launch. According to a recent article at adage.com, the PlayStation 3 has topped unit sales of the Xbox 360 in January, February and May, and shows no signs of slowing down. Adage attributes the console’s health with the success of the Blu-Ray format and more »

Next up to cast a shadow on PC gaming’s vitality is id Software, which had been a driving force in the platform’s popularity during the ’90s with the Doom and Quake games.

Last Thursday (March 20, 2008), id’s Director of Business, Steve Nix, told Eurogamer that the average first-person shooter player isn’t just some guy armed with a keyboard and mouse anymore. Although id will continue to steadfastly support PC gaming, it must take into account the current market shifts. Nix told Eurogamer that even formerly die-hard PC gamers are making the jump to consoles.

“I know that I have friends who are…

Taking a cue from David Letterman and PCMagazine’s weekly Best/Worst lists, GamePro has post a 2007 list of what it has determined are the 11 worst trends in video game. A few are the usual complaints – being too powerful is overdone and sequels suck – but after you get through the original list, see more »