GDC just can't seem to stay quiet this year. According to Liam Callahan, an analyst with the NPD group, sales of digital games have been increasing by roughly one third (33%) year on year. With France, Germany, the UK and USA accounting for $10 billion in sales in 2012 alone. These figures include sales across all forms of digital gaming, with 48% of US sales being retail games ($7.1 billion) meaning digital download options are already claiming the lion's share of distribution channels. A trend which is projected to continue with ever more companies offering their own download services. Such as CD Projekt's GOG, the Uplay shop and Origin.
You can read the full report by visiting our colleagues at GamesIndustryInternational for the nitty gritty. But the long and short of it is that digital distribution is the way of the future. Like it or loathe it, it will become the standard. But what does this mean for the future? Only time will tell. Until then, predictions can be left in our comments section below.
Posted 02-04-2013, 16:47
NPD were, arguably, the largest part of the study. Besides, you don't have to be in a country to track how it's economy going. All that kind of stuff is public domain, with companies obligated by international law to disclose, to a certain extent, their in and outgoings. For tax purposes and such. Some companies go so far as to make a show of it. Like Sony and the "we were first to sell 100million consoles" bragging for example
Posted 02-04-2013, 14:27
@Stunt, from the link, NPD wasn't the only group involved in this study, so was iResearch and Digi-Capital.
Posted 02-04-2013, 11:43
Inst NPD an American thing? How are they monitoring the rest of the world?
Posted 02-04-2013, 09:35
You know, I used to despise the very idea of having everything entirely digital. I like having the physical discs on my shelf, and always will. But then...
Steam happened