NPD: US games sales hit $20.2bn end of 2009, an 8

It’s that time again when the NPD gets all number crazy, showing us what consumers blow their cash on. 2009 raked in $20.2bn in US game sales.

That plump figure though is down 8 percent from 2008’s $21.4 billion. NPD says big sales ”a positive move” for games to recover in 2010.

”There are a lot of hardware records this month,” said NPD’s Anita Frazier, referring to December 09, reports VG247. ”The PS3 realized its biggest month of sales ever (1.36 million sold), and the first time sales have exceeded 1 million units.”

“The Wii and the DS also had their biggest sales months ever, and in fact the two platforms hold the top two spots in sales of any hardware device in a single month.”

Sony has already announced how super a time they had this past Holiday season, saying they haven’t had such a boon since the launch of the PS3 console.

”The video game industry experienced its biggest sales month ever, besting last December by 4 percent. It wasn’t enough, though, to compensate for the sales decline throughout the year, and so full-year sales came in 8 percent below last year’s record-setting revenues.”

“The only category to see an increase over last year was portable hardware, which was up due to a 7 percent increase in the average retail price. The DS platform, across all categories, contributed 17 percent of total industry dollars in 2009, up three points from 2008,” continued the NPD report.

”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.” How did PC games fair in December 09? They managed $538 million in sales, down 23 percent.

Top 10 US PC games for 2009:

1.The Sims 3

2.WoW: Wrath of the Lich King

3.The Sims 2 Double Deluxe

4.WoW: Battlechest

5.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

6.World of Warcraft

7.The Sims 3: World Adventures

8.Spore

9.Dragon Age: Origins

10.Empire: Total War

Top 10 US games for 2009: