According to a report from NPD (a consumer market research group), 48% of all PC video games sold in the United States in 2009 were digital downloads. The 48% accounted for 21.3 million downloaded video games throughout the year, with the other 52% or 23.5 million games being physical copies.
The amount of games sold online has been steadily increasing over the past few years as programs such as Steam are becoming more popular with gamers. Also, with more consumers having access to fast broadband service, the act of simply downloaded a title to the PC becomes much easier than going to a retail store.
The NPD report also looked at different online distributors, categorized them by the types of games they sale and ranked them on a market share. The categories consist of “frontline digital retailers” which are online companies focusing on games sold at retail stores. The other group is “casual digital retailers” which focuses on light gamers with unique online titles. You can check the rankings below.
Top 5 Frontline Digital Retailers - 2009 (based on unit % share)
Steampowered.com Direct2Drive.com Blizzard.com EA.com Worldofwarcraft.comTop 5 Casual Digital Retailers - 2009 (based on unit % share)
Bigfishgames.com Pogo.com Gamehouse.com iWin.com Realarcade.comThis is a trend we are likely to see continue as downloads are quickly becoming the norm; 2010 could be the year where downloads surpass physical copies sold.
Post a comment here and let us know whether you buy your games retail or download them through an online service.
Update: Stardock and Impulse's Brad Wardell says, "Despite what many would have you believe, 3 out of 4 PC game sales occur at retail with the bulk occurring at just a handful of retailers (Walmart, Best Buy, Gamestop, etc.). The remaining 25% is via digital distribution (Steam, Impulse, D2D, etc.)."
Source:Shacknews
Sections:PC Games, Handheld Games
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