Financiapocalyse, financiasschmocalypse. This country’s doing alright. Just look at the amount of cash we all dropped on video games last year, according to a report from the IEAA: $1.96 billion. If that figure alone doesn’t fill you with a sense of mortal wonder, then consider this: that figure is an increase of 47% on 2007. So while the rest of the world was grinding its way towards an inevitable economic catastrophe, us Aussies just invested our money into gaming.But not just any games. No, the big winner last year was “family games”, which grew 137% to become the biggest games category. As David over at Kotaku AU points out, it’s a safe bet to assume Nintendo’s Wii had a very good year.
Also worth noting is that gaming hardware accessories grew 68% and games consoles lifted 43%. They’re huge growth figures, no matter which way you look at it.
Of course, the games industry has a much bigger challenge this year – the economy was going pretty strong for the first half of 2008. Hopefully you’ll all do your part for the economy and pick up the latest version of Guitar Hero when it comes out this year…