Canadian videogame market hits $1.7bn
Nintendo Wii and DS lead the charge, dominating the vast percentage of unit sales
Consumer spending on videogames in Canada hit an all time record at CAD 2.09 billion (USD 1.7 billion) for 2008, according to the market research group NPD.
The figure represents a year-on-year growth of 23 per cent seeing a total of 1.9 million consoles sold over the year, with the Nintendo Wii dominating sales with 44.1 per cent of the stake, while Microsoft's Xbox 360 came in second at 25.5 per cent and Sony's PlayStation 3 followed at 21.7 per cent.
"We believe the Wii has really hit a great price point in the market," Matthew Tattle, account manager at NPD, told CBC News. "It's really expanded the user base. It's gone beyond the traditional gamer market."
The region saw a total of 1.2 million portable consoles sold in 2008, Nintendo once again provided the best selling system with its DS at 76.5 per cent of sales, followed by Sony's PlayStation Portable accounting for the remaining 23.5 per cent.