Even with the holiday surge, there’s no doubt that 2009 was a tough one for the games business. All categories saw declines, except portable gaming hardware, which saw a 6% bump in revenue (driven by the DS in large part). Console hardware saw the biggest decline last year, falling 13% compared to 2008. Software was hit hard too, as console software and portable software both experienced declines of 10%.  Video game accessories were down just one percent though. It’s important to keep 2009 in perspective, however. No, it didn’t quite match 2008’s record numbers, but the year was still the second best ever for the U.S. game industry and the Entertainment Software Association is still very optimistic for the industry’s future.

“December marks just the fourth month of the year where the industry saw an increase over last year.  January and February were both up, and since the decline that began in March, only September experienced growth.  The big sales this month, particularly on the hardware front, is a positive move for the industry headed into what will hopefully be a recovery year in 2010,” noted Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.

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