Hollywood Reporter:
Four major video game franchise titles with music tie-ins sparked a record year for U.S. video game and computer game software, representing more than 5% of the total 297.6 million units sold in 2008, according to the NPD Group. Unit sales were up 11% from the prior year’s record and represented $11.7 billion at retail, a 23% year-over-year increase. In a rare success story on the economic front, U.S. retailers overall raked in $21.33 billion in sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories during the year (not including the PC market), up 19% from 2007.