U.S. Economy Isn't Hurting Videogames Sales One Bit

You'd never know that the U.S. Economy was hurting right now if you looked at the videogame industry sales figures.

Video games software sales rose 63% from March 2007 to $945.6 million, which is higher than analysts had expected. Most analysts expected an average growth of 47% over the last year, but with games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl selling 2.7 million units, and Army of Two and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 selling over 600,000 units, it's not hard to see why the market is booming.

Hardware sales are booming too with a 46% increase in Nintendo console and handheld sales and the PSP sold 297,000 units in February alone. Game accessories have gone up 58% from last year and with Grand Theft Auto IV coming up, analysts are expecting a huge boost to the Xbox 360 and PS3 console market.

No one should be surprised though at the increase in gaming sales. During the depression, people still continued to spend money on movies because when times are bad, people still need an escape and right now video games are that escape. Better than spending your money on moon pies and penny whistles.