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Australians spent over $925 million on games consoles and software in 2006 – a seven per cent increase on total figures for 2005, the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) has announced.
The IEAA said the stats, compiled by market research group GfK, showed the increase in sales was driven by an 18 percent increase in spending on consoles and peripherals.
“The introduction of new systems to the market has undoubtedly driven sales with all formats performing really well throughout the year,” said GfK Senior Account Manager, Daniel Morse.
But the driving force for the games industry is still games software – with over 12.5 million games purchased for a total of $596 million in 2006. This accounted for over 64 percent of total gaming sales.
Christmas games sales accounted for 23 per cent of total sales for 2006 and grew by eight per cent compared with 2005.
Compared with 2005, sales of handheld consoles such as Nintendo DS and PSP have increased by 11 per cent to $210 million and static platform sales have risen seven per cent to $593 million.
“Sales for 2006 show that Australian gamers are quick to embrace both new technology, as well as current generation systems,” said IEAA CEO, Chris Hanlon.
“2007 will be a considerable year for hardware sales and the Australian interactive games industry will comfortably exceed the $1 billion mark. Australia is home to 40 game development companies which have produced in excess of 200 game titles. With more than 1,600 people directly involved, the Australian interactive games industry is an export industry worth more than $110 million,” he added.
