Financial revenue generated from the games industry in 2017 has increased by 18% compared with 2016 figures. The data, which comes from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), also shows there’s been a net profit of $36 billion USD—up by $5.1 billion. This is a significant rise when you take sales from 2015 into account, which brought home $30.2 billion.
ESA President Michael D. Gallagher called it a “spectacular growth” for the US economy, and extolled creators for “delivering another record year of remarkable entertainment”. The 2017 figure represents a cobination of hardware (peripherals included), software, plus digital sales (subscriptions and in-game purchases included), and is based on reports from App Annie and market research company NPD Group.
NPD reports indicate hardware sales grew by 28% in 2017, a jump which NPD analyst Mat Piscatella attributes to the Nintendo Switch—now officially the fastest selling US console ever released. Piscatella also said that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles are selling at a “record-setting pace”, with Sony’s system earning the title of best-selling console of 2017. By the end of March 2018, Sony hopes total PlayStation 4 sales will hit 79 million units.
Across all gaming platforms, the most profitable title in both physical and digital sales was Activision’s Call of Duty: WWII. It also claimed top spot on the PlayStation Store’s most downloaded games of 2017. Taking second place in the NPD sales is NBA 2K18, which is followed by Destiny 2, Madden NFL 18, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the indefatigable Grand Theft Auto V. Please note these rankings do not incorporate digital sales or PC digital sales, so there may be some fluctuation.
Featured image from Statista
