Today, with the 2003 still in its infancy, The NPD Group announced today that sales of videogame hardware and software grew 10% in 2002 to a whopping $10.3 billion USD, shattering 2001’s record of $9.4 billion USD. In respect to software, the group reported sales gains of 21% in dollar volume and 15% in units; this was largely attributed to such new software as: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Madden NFL 2003, Super Mario Sunshine, Spider-Man: The Movie, Halo and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Meanwhile, hardware shot up 10% to $3.5 billion USD, as opposed to $3.7 billion in 2001. Once again price drops in Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Game Boy Advance accounted for the positive unit sales.

On the side of console and portable accessories the NPD Group continued to report positive figures, this time with a 9% increase in dollar volume. Including DVD remotes, Internet adapters and such, the increase was 18% during August – December 2002. This all comes on top of online games representing 15% of software dollars.

"In 2003, the video game industry should expect unit volume growth to outpace dollar volume growth in the hardware category," said Richard Ow, senior account executive with The NPD Group. "Dollar volume will struggle for continued growth throughout 2003. The majority of the growth will come primarily from software sales, capitalizing on the hardware sold to date. The full power of the current generation of hardware is still unrealized. There is a barrage of new game software launches that will appeal widely to new video gamers, both old and young, expanding the software-to-hardware tie ratios of the previous generation," added Ow.In addition to general figures, an annual list of the top 10 sellers was posted. Check it out below.

Top 10 Best Selling Videogames For 2002

1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PlayStation2/Take-Two Interactive)
2. Grand Theft Auto 3 (PlayStation 2/Take-Two Interactive)
3. Madden NFL 2003 (PlayStation 2/Electronic Arts)
4. Super Mario Advance 2 (Game Boy Advance/Nintendo)
5. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PlayStation 2/SCEA)
6. Medal of Honor: Frontline (PlayStation 2/Electronic Arts)
7. Spiderman: The Movie (PlayStation 2/Activision)
8. Kingdom Hearts (PlayStation 2/Square EA)
9. Halo (Xbox/Microsoft Game Studios)
10. Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube/Nintendo)