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"Although much of the information contained could be classified as \"duh\" (or in few cases: \"wha?\") to our loyal readers, The Economist has a piece about how \"recession-proof\" the video game industry is. Clearly, The Economist is looking at a very macro level when it calls the industry \"recession proof,\" because given recent events we'd be more comfortable if the industry had been classified as \"recession resistant.\"The magazine notes that the global sales of console hardware and software are expected to reach $50 billion this year. Regurgitating NPD data from October, the mag points out that sales in the US totaled $697 million, which is a 35% increase from the previous year (November wasn't too bad either). The question, of course, is whether the industry can keep it up if things get worse.Update: We contacted NPD to find out the specific increase in November. The group let us know that software sales were $1.45 billion during the month, up 11% from the prior November."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/18/the-economist-examines-recession-proof-games-industry/>