Download Games | PC Game Downloads Digital considerably exceed the retail sales
More in 'the writing of the wall' ministry, it seems to download digital versions of PC games have roared past sales of physical units sold at retail during the first six months of 2010.
We 're not talking a couple of one hundred miles away, either. According to the retail U.S. (and, more recently, digital) sales tracker NPD Group, PC games digital downloads exceeded record 11.2 million, compared to 8.2. million physical units purchased at retail during the January-June 2010 sales period.
It is the first time the event said NPD Group, although there 's an important wrinkle: physical games retail still command the lion' s share of sales in dollars, the detention of 57 per cent, against 43 percent for digital downloads. NPD says that because the games have a retail selling price higher average (probably referring to all those ridiculously expensive curio-crammed limited editions).
If you 're in detail, that' s hard enough news. This is the worst: digital and physical PC Gaming Revenue handset is off by 21% in the first half of 2010, while unit sales fell by 14% over the same period, from year to year. bad news for PC games, especially given year after year of video game software sales were only 8% for the same period of six months.
Here is the list of major digital retailers, based on the part of the unit%.
1. Steamgames.com 2. Direct2drive.com 3. EA.com 4. Worldofwarcraft.com 5. Blizzard.com
And casual top digital retailers, based on the part of the unit%.
1. Bigfishgames.com 2. Gamehouse.com 3. iWin.com 4. Pogo.com 5. Wildtangent.com
Notably absent among the top five are Impulsedriven.com, GOG.com, and Gamersgate.com. I 'ma little surprised D2D at number two, but less for Blizzard in the top five. Note that StarCraft II is the 't release until July 27, 2010, so when I' m not sure what numbers distinct society from Steam, D2D, and EA, with World of Warcraft Cataclysm shipping this year, I don 'be surprised if they finish more than 2010-slot yet.
"A key finding of this latest report is that the" grow big 'in the first half of 2010, with both steam and Bigfish capture a larger share of PC games, full digital game downloads as sales Last year, "said Anita Frazier, NPD analyst." The overall decline in PC games, when combining both sales via digital downloads and physical retail sales is affected by the expansion of network games social as well as the continued expansion of gaming options available. "
Note that the other does make the list: GameStop.com. They offer digital downloads of PC games, too, but don 't done much (from my perspective, anything) to promote that fact. Sell used games should help them through these sales fall, but once the market for fully digital – in advance, because it eliminates costly intermediaries – they 're probably in serious trouble.
And even games will use a product while it is still something physical "used" for sale.
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