Strong numbers were announced today from The NDP Group that show significant year-over-year growth in video game console purchases: +26% in October ‘08 vs. ‘07 for consoles, software and accessories.

However, portable gaming consoles (like the PSP and Nintendo DS) fell 14%. This clearly is an outcome of devices like the iPhone which are now full gaming systems in their own right… with publishers developing high-quality content specifically for the platform. What is the benefit of buying a PSP or Nintendo Wii when, for the same price, you can have an iPhone which has cheaper content, is social (phone, sms, email, etc), smaller and sexier. This trend will continue….:

“The video games industry grew an impressive 18 percent year-over-year in the first month of the critical fourth quarter,” she wrote. “With 10-months under its belt, the video games industry is still poised to top $22B in annual sales in 2008.

“The sales results are mixed this month, however. The console portion of the market made significant gains at 26% across hardware, software and accessories, while the portable side of the market stalled, declining 14%. Year-to-date the portable segment of the market is still up 7%.”

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