A press release this morning from the Entertainment Software Association, the Washington based gaming industry lobbying group, makes the claim that the game business made $21 billion during the 2008 calendar year. That is up 23% from 2007, and represents a record year for the the video game industry. 2008 also saw the largest ever one month sales total, with December sales reaching $5 billion.

In all, 297.6 million PC and console games were sold in 2008. Console titles led the way, accounting for $8.9 billion, followed by handheld software, which made a record setting $2.1 billion. PC games accounted for $701.4.

Although the sales numbers are impressive, 2008 saw the continuation of a trend that doesn't bode well for diversity in games. Anita Frazier, an industry analyst, put it in context. "In 2005, when the current console generation began to be introduced, the top 20 games of the year accounted for 9 percent of total unit sales. Today, the top 20 account for 15 percent of total unit sales.".

So while the sales numbers continue to impress, it does seem that gamers are increasingly gravitating towards a few more popular titles rather than taking a chance on unknown titles. Although in the current economic climate, with games packing an average $50 price tag, who can blame them?

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