Downloads account for 48 percent of PC game sales
The NPD Group has finally begun collecting stats on digital PC game sales.
The NPD Group collates information about game sales but, until today, has only collected receipts from retail stores. The group now estimates that around 48 percent of all PC games are sold through digital distributors like Steam.
The figures mean that previously announced sales figures have not fully reflected the state of the PC games market, having a margin of error as large as 21.3 million units.
NPD has revealed the top five digital distributors of PC games that are also available at retail (i.e. not casual games portals). The list (below) makes for interesting reading, especially since the number #5 slot is a distributor which really only sells one game...
1. Steampowered.com
2. Direct2Drive.com
3. Blizzard.com
4. EA.com
5. WorldofWarcraft.com
The new statistics definitely raise concerns that the digital market is being monopolised by Valve and Blizzard, especially with GamersGate and Impulse being notably absent from the above list. On the plus side, the announcement does paint the PC games market in a much better light than some might have assumed.
Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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33 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyAnybody who has experienced EAs systems over the years will know that it's a wonder that they're even at number 4.
..and at the end of the day you can always sell your Steam account if you get bored of your games :)
I've always thought about that but the trouble is if you've got around 30-50 games on it you probably don't want to get rid of them all! You could always create a new account for every game, although I'm pretty sure there's something in the Steam EULA that says you can't sell an account on..
Furthermore, Valve wanted to create Steam with others (EA, MS i think); none were interested, so the companies really only have themselves to blame for valves success.
Now, I almost exclusively buy my games on Steam.
This is me to 95%, tho I have been known to, ahem, "create my own demo" if none exists for games I'm really not sure of, then purchase. Though even that is going down because the odd games (Mirror's Edge for example) usually end up for 5.99 specials on Steam within a year. Don't feel so bad about possibly wasting that if I don't like it.
UK pricing is a bit of a joke unless the game is pretty old and their doing a special promotion.
it says it collects reciepts from stores
what about websites like amazon which deliver the phisical medium?
usually its cheaper online so i dont see how it is 48%
30% maybe but i dont htink that half the market download the games because most new games now are dual layer dvd's or 9gb per disk
Can't remember the last time I actually bought a game in a real store, many years ago now. Went from buying them in store to buying online from places such as Amazon. Buying from places such as Steam is simply the logical progression from that.
I'm actually downloading a supposedly fun (and free) game from Steam right now called Alien Swarm.
Will probably take me about 30 mins or so at worst.
Just can't go wrong with it.
It's an excellent game
The thing with GOG is that the games will run on newer OS's, you could probably buy a physical disc a little cheaper but i doubt it would run, without some form of crack/hack or maybe not work at all.
So the pricing isnt too bad when you get a game that will just work imo.
It's going by units sold, not the money involved. Prices fluctuate far too often to use them as a scale.
I really don't understand why this is a concern. It's not like Steam is exorbitantly dear, in fact I'm pretty sure their sales etc are the only reason they're currently at the top. Why is it such a bad thing that people are actually using a useful, well-run, sensible service?
Gripe no. 2 is that you 'can't' re-sell a game when you've finished with it.
Like with my music, I like to have a physical product, so having no game disc doesn't appeal to me.