In 2005, the total U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories rose 6% over 2004 to $10.5 billion USD ($9.9 billion, 2004) breaking 2002's $10.3 billion record for the industry.
The increase is largely due to the portable game market which counterbalanced sluggish console game sales. Delays, hardware shortages, and anticipation of next-generation video game consoles have been cited as reasoning for slow sales for both console games and console hardware. Console games and hardware dropped by 12% and 3% respectively.
The portable market of the video game industry rose to $1.4 billion, the second time sales broke the $1 billion mark in the industry's history. Mostly due to the release of the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable in North America, sales for portable hardware rose 96% over 2004. Although the release of the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP aided in spurring growth in the portable market, the Game Boy Advance still represented 62% total portable software units sold and 52% of total portable software dollar sales.[6]
Computer games continued its trend and declined by 14%, dropping from $1.1 billion in 2004 to $953 million. Although sales did decrease, NPD claims that playing games on the PC is actually increasing through a variety of different mediums including online websites and MMO subscriptions.[7]
Additionally, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii were officially unveiled during or just prior to E3; however, only the Xbox 360 was released in 2005. The Xbox 360 was released in North America on November 22, Europe on December 2, and Japan on December 10.
This year saw the worldwide release of Sony's PlayStation Portable after initially launching in Japan the previous year. The Nintendo DS made its launch in Australasia on February 24 and then in Europe on March 11. Nintendo also released the Game Boy Micro, the final revision model of the Game Boy Advance as well as the final entry in the Game Boy family overall. The Game Boy Micro was negatively received due to it not being backwards compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games (unlike the first 2 GBA models), leading to it being one of Nintendo's worst-selling consoles of all time.
The PlayStation 3 was unveiled by Sony during a pre-E3 press conference, at 21:25 GMT. At the same time, the press release[35] was released through the Japanese PlayStation website.
May 18–20
The 11th annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) takes place in Los Angeles, California. Four hundred exhibiting companies and 70,000 industry professionals representing 79 countries attended. Next-generation systems from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft were unveiled.[36]
May 22
The Pac-Man franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan.
June 1
IBM held the first virtual video game on-demand conference in which game developers and manufacturers were able to come together to discuss issues with online games, including management and distribution.
July 18–22
IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) hosts 6th annual Executive Summit.
September 13
The Super Mario series celebrated its 20th anniversary in Japan.
Video game companies and players worldwide donate money to the UNICEF South Asian Tsunami Relief Fund for rescue and reconstruction efforts upon the South Asian tsunami disaster. Electronic Arts pledges to donate $250,000 to the UNICEF South Asian Tsunami Relief Fund. CCP, the publisher of EVE Online, establishes a fund that video game players can contribute to.
January 17
Electronic Arts and ESPN announced a 15-year partnership that would give EA access to ESPN's broadcast, print and online content.
January 20
Activision announced that it acquired developer Vicarious Visions known best as a developer of Game Boy games as well as for their middleware program, Alchemy.
January 24
Major League Baseball and Take-Two Interactive sign exclusive seven-year deal that gives Take-Two Interactive the rights among third-party publishers to develop games based on the MLB license.
January 25
Take-Two Interactive announced that it acquired developer Visual Concepts and their wholly owned subsidiary Kush Games from Sega for $24 million. Additionally, Take-Two Interactive also announced the start of another publishing label named 2K Games.
February
Troika Games defunct after being unable to get contracts for development work.
March 2
The Entertainment Software Rating Board or ESRB added the rating of "E10+" to its ratings system. E10+ was created in order to divide E ratings for younger and older children.
Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man series, was promoted from corporate officer to senior corporate officer.
May
Buena Vista Games announces that it had bought the rights to the Turok video game franchise and will be publishing new games. The rights were originally held by bankrupt Acclaim Entertainment.
July 20
After coming under heavy fire from many politicians, most notably Hillary Clinton, the Entertainment Software Rating Board re-rated Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Adults Only 18+ (AO) due to the sexually explicit minigame mod "Hot Coffee". Additionally, Rockstar Games ceased production of the game and has announced plans to offer a new version of the game that can't be affected by the mod, and plans to patch the PC version.
Sony Computer Entertainment announce that PlayStation 2 breaks a record: the fastest console to reach cumulative shipment of 100 million units, beating the previous record holder, the PlayStation, by three years and nine months. The PS platform has until the present year the biggest sales of all times of video games history, with 120 million consoles shipped.
↑"2005年ゲームソフト年間売上TOP500"[2005 Game Software Annual Sales Top 500]. Famitsū Gēmu Hakusho 2006 ファミ通ゲーム白書2006 [Famitsu Game Whitebook 2006] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Enterbrain. 2006. Archived from the original on January 27, 2009.
