Games overtake DVD and Blu-ray combined sales

In yet another sign that the gaming industry is healthier than ever (and, conversely, that movie sales using physical media is beginning to stall) Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that retail sales of video games topped the combined forces of DVD and Blu-ray worldwide for the first time in 2008. In a nutshell, the report claims game sales were up 20% to $32 billion while DVD and Blu-ray sales were down 6% to $29 billion.

These figures come courtesy of Media Control GfK International. The research firm is not breaking down any numbers so as to provide a more comprehensive look at the market, though it is evident that Nintendo was largely responsible for driving the industry's growth last year with its massively successful Wii console and DS handheld while home movie media is being curbed in a smaller degree by digital distribution and the rental market. Moreover, GfK says that the distance between the gaming and movie industry will continue to grow over the next year.

Despite the impressive figures on the gaming side of things, we should note that people are probably still buying more movies than games, it’s just that games usually retail for $40-$60 while movies sell for as high as $25 in most cases.