Sales of console and PC software reached a record high $7.3 bln in 2004, a moderate increase over 2003 with sales of $7 bln. 248 mln computer and video games were sold in 2004; this is roughly 8 mln more than the total in 2003. Console software sales reached $5.2 bln (up from $4.9 bln) on 160.7 mln units, portable software sales expanded to a record $1.0 bln (up from $903 mln) on 42.3 mln units, and PC game sales were $1.1 bln (45 mln units), which is down from the $1.2 bln total that PC games posted in 2003. PC market only accounted for 15% of overall game sales. In 2003, total PC game sales represented about 17% of the market.
Over 30% of console gamers purchased action games over other genres and 17.8% purchases sports titles, PC gamers were more likely to buy strategy titles (26.9%), children’s entertainment games (20.3%) and shooter games (16.3%).