2008 was a bad economic year, as everyone knows. The economy went from bad to worse as that year progressed…however through the economic downturn, video games continued to sell at record levels. Nintendo Wii and Grand Theft Auto IV were two big sellers. There are now signs that the recession is starting to take its toll on video games, though.

Americans bought $21.33 billion worth of video game systems and accessories in 2008. This is up from about $18 billion in 2007. Industry growth is not continuing at the pace that was projected initially. Even so though, December 2008 was 9% over December 2007 and sets a new record for total industry sales.

December 2008 was the first time that the gaming industry’s revenue went over $5 billion for a single month. To compare, it took all of 2007 to hit $5.1 billion in sales.