Research group NPD, which typically doesn't deal in digital distribution, revealed today some interesting stats on the sub-industry which tell us it's growing, though perhaps not as much as many have thought.
It should be noted first, however, NPD didn't make known the size of its study samples, nor did they specify what "regularly" means when referring to how often Xbox LIVE Gold members download content. Onto it, then.
Building on Microsoft's recent data which says 20 million gamers have subscribed to LIVE, totalling over one billion pieces of downloaded content, NPD states 18 percent of the service's Gold members acquire it "regularly." A bit stark, however between 2008 and 2009 the number of those subscribers increased by 24 percent. Sony was less blessed, despite its PlayStation Network being ad-supported and free, with 10 percent of its customers downloading content on a regular basis.
On the PC side, NPD says 17 percent of game purchases are digital rather than boxed, with 56 percent of those digital sales coming through Steam, Bigfishgames and RealArcade between July and December 2008. The figures are in contrast with Capcom's own, who have been pushing for digital distribution this last while and estimate half of their upcoming PC titles will be sold digitally.
