Game Industry to Sell Over 30 Million Hardware Units for Next Several Years – Janco

The U.S. video game industry has seen explosive growth over the last couple of years, and if hardware adoption is a positive indicator for future software sales growth, then it would appear that the industry is in great shape.

In a recent note on GameStop's holiday sales, Janco Partners' Mike Hickey said he thinks that hardware sales are likely to continue at their current torrid pace. He also does not see any new consoles launching for at least a few more years, echoing comments made by Microsoft's Robbie Bach.

"We think hardware sales could pace at over 30 million units annually for the next several years, as the gaming category continues to attract mainstream audience," Hickey said. "We do not expect a next generation console release until 2012 – 2013, providing a medium term profile of uninterrupted earnings growth, in our opinion."

In 2007, according to NPD data, the U.S. video game industry came just shy of 30 million hardware units sold. The 2008 data is coming in just a couple days, but it's likely that hardware units easily exceeded that figure.