 |
|
|
| |
NPD: 90 Percent Of Paid Game Purchases Were Physical In Q3
by Kris Graft [PC, Console/PC]
|
|
| |
|
January 13, 2010
|
| |
Digital distribution models continue to become more prevalent, but traditional physical purchases of console games are still dominant in the U.S., NPD Group said this week in its quarterly Games Acquisition Monitor report.
The tracking firm said that physical console game purchases -- both new and used -- accounted for 90 percent of all paid video game buys during calendar Q3, 2009 in the U.S. Meanwhile, 79 percent of games for portables, PC/Mac, mobile, and smartphones were bought in physical form.
NPD added that 70 percent of dual format (digital and physical) customers are under 35 years old; 46 percent of digital-only customers are under 35. "Dual format purchasers represent just 19 percent of all buyers but provide 40 percent of dollar volume," an NPD statement said.
"While physical retail product remains the driving force behind industry sales, the role of digital distribution in the games ecosystem continues to climb," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "Publishers and retailers must keep an eye on the current state of the marketplace and must map ahead for future strategies."
Annual U.S. retail video game console sales through November 2009 were $14.13 billion, down around 12 percent from 2008. Frazier said last month that she expects the U.S. retail console market to generate around $20 billion during 2009 in total, down from 2008's $21.33 billion. The official NPD figures for the whole of 2009 are expected to release later this week.
NPD also said that piracy (NPD defines piracy as "downloading files through Peer-to-Peer networks) is less prevalent in the games industry when compared to the music industry. Four percent of gamers, or about 6 million consumers, admitted they downloaded games from P2P networks. Seventy-two percent of those downloads occurred on PC and Mac.
NPD added that PC/Mac and consoles led portable systems and cell phones as the most popular gaming platforms during Q3 2009.
|
| |
|
|
As the body of the article notes, 90 percent of all *console* game sales in Q3 were for physical product. Over one-fifth of sales of games for portables, PC/Mac, mobile, and smartphones were digital in Q3.
It would be interesting to see PC/Mac sales broken out from the sales for portables/mobiles/smartphones -- would the percentage of digital sales be higher or lower?
Also, going by the text of the article it appears that the NPD numbers may not include recurring subscription revenue for online games, which is a crucial form of digital distribution of game content.
there are all these hidden distribution numbers by digital distribution services can you really grasp what people are playing on the PC? they don't track MMOs and Facebook game revenue, so it looks more like we are just seeing console numbers.
its nice that they are trying to count stuff but things have shifted and makes me seriously wonder if their numbers are valid (or conclusions drawn from their numbers).
NPD clearly matters, because publishers derive millions upon millions of dollars in revenue from retail game sales. Obviously it's an extremely relevant segment.
Of course I'm not sure how they could tell since AFAIK the sales numbers for downloadable console games are never officially released.