It’s no surprise that 2009 was a bad year for the video game industry. With the economy in a rut and families pinching pennies, video game sales have fallen 8% since last year when 2008 saw a record breaking $21.4 billion dollars in video game sales, according to the NPD.

Despite the overall decline in sales, however, it seems that the holiday rush was able to bring in a significant amount of sales. NPD claims that December 2009 was the best month ever for video game sales, bringing in a whopping $5.53 billion, 4% higher than last year’s $5.32 billion.

The family friendly Nintendo Wii console was rumored to have been dying out, but December proved that the Wii is still a huge leading competitor, leading with 3.1 million units sold. Sony came in second with its Playstation 3 console selling 1.36 million units. The Xbox 360 by Microsoft followed closely behind with 1.31 million units sold.

These numbers look hopeful, and video game companies predict that 2010 will be a big year for the industry.

Source: CNET.com