Video games for the first time outsold standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles in 2008, as overall global retail sales of packaged entertainment grew by 6 percent ($61 billion total) for the year, according to analyst GfK International.
Games held a 53 percent share of all home disc packaged content last year, compared to 49 percent in 2007, according to GfK.
In its 2009 forecast, the German consultancy predicts that video games will continue their upward share trend—growing to represent 57 percent of all entertainment software sales in 2009. GfK’s numbers pertain only to packaged content sales, not rentals.
GfK's new report projects DVD and Blu-ray (combined) will decline another 4 percent (to $27 billion)—despite the fact that it says Blu-ray will again more than double its sales this year to just under $3 billion worldwide (thus representing about one-ninth of overall DVD/Blu-ray sales).
In 2008, continuing declines in standard DVD purchases dragged down the disc market’s growth for movie and TV titles. GfK said Warner Home Video (the studio behind DVD and Blu-ray sales record holder “The Dark Knight”) is the global leader in market share for non-game disc entertainment.
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