Maybe it’s a sign of the times: Escaping reality is a steady growth industry for procurement pros at video gaming companies.

While many companies struggle to stay on an even keel, and procurement operations cope with waning demand for product but increased demands from customers, there are bright spots.

Video game hardware and software sales shot up 18% in the U.S. in October.

The big winner: Nintendo’s Wii console. More than 800,000 unites flew off the shelves.

There was plenty of wealth to go around: Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 sold 371,000 units in October, up from 347,200 the previous month. One factor contributing to that was that Xbox cut the price of its basic to unit to $50 less than Wii’s shelf price.

Popular games like Fable II, Wii Fit and Wii Play are selling like proverbial hotcakes, too.  

So the next time one of your carriers pushes you onto the back burner, it might be because there’s a video game company on the other end of the delivery. Carriers know who they need to keep happy. They figure you’re not going anywhere anyway.

Better yet: Maybe you should consider proposing that your company expand its product line — to include video games and accessories.

Tags: carriers, customers, procurement