Digital sales of retail PC games now all but equal retail sales in the US.
US sales tracking organisation NPD announced PC game downloads to have reached 21.3 million units in 2009, 48% of the total. Physical sales lead with 23.5 million. However, these sales only amounted to 36% of dollar sales, suggesting lower unit prices.
Meanwhile, total game sales plummeted 23% in 2009 to $538 million, most probably due to the economic climate and ongoing decline of the PC gaming market.
Traditional game sales charts do not reflect sales of digital content well – NPD is reportedly investigating better ways of including these as the digital distribution market continues to grow.
NPD also provides estimates of the market position of the top “frontline” (non-casual games also sold at retail) digital gaming content sellers on the PC platform:
Top 5 Frontline Digital Retailers –2009 (based on unit % share)
1. Steampowered.com
2. Direct2drive.com
3. Blizzard.com
4. EA.com
5. Worldofwarcraft.com
Were consoles included in this ranking, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo would likely head the list.
Despite the healthy growth in digital sales on the PC, the PC gaming market is still a shadow of its former self – 2001 retail sales came to $1.6 billion, a decline many attribute to rampant piracy on the platform.
Used to be a pirate when I was a poorfag, then I got a job > Installed Steam, I’m having hell of fun playing original games and supporting the industry, most of the games I bought on special sales, I’mean c’mon $5 bucks for games like Fallout 3 GOTY, Fallout NV, Saints Row, Dead Space 1 & 2, & several great games, and some free2play, Team Fortress 2 rocks. Steam is doing great they give good prices for everyone around the world. I live in Mexico and payin $10 to $5 Dollars is more reasonable and more economical viable than paying $70 to $80 dollars just for one game.
The real question here is what counts as a “PC game download”? Would something like CakeMania or some other crap fit under that?
Am i the only one tired of hearing the same s♥♥t with companies blaming piracy for the low sales this year ?
Where the hell were they when the economy went down ?
They definitely don’t seem to remember that the s♥♥t hit the fan and companies became going into debt,people lost jobs and the cost of living raised. Piracy is to the digital world as Prostitution is to the normal world, Its the oldest, so blaming it for this years low sales and not i don’t know the recession, I find the rather retarded.
Next note: when it came to gaming the PC has always been better. The pc can do things that the consoles can’t and if you build a good one, it can last as long as a console and not to mention can your consoles push the same graphics a PC has ? I think not, not to mention the things a PC can do that a console can’t, the only reason i want a console is because of the exclusive games.
2nd Note:- All the protections the companies are using are getting overbearing. Like i have to download the entire game in-order to play it……..WTF!!??!! do gaming companies think the world is full of godlike internet speeds ? Guess places that have DSL and lower can all suck it because your not fast enough to download a 3 DVD game, sure this way well create more profits and not piss of those who have to spend there money, but i guess thats the way things have to be right ? fighting the pirate war ? Like you can win.
Thus far I haven’t seen many noteworthy PC games. Most of the games I found fun so far were all on console which most of the Japanese companies cater to. (And with good reason, their games are freaking good!)
Shows that Activision/Blizzard takes in more money than they pay for server upkeep on WOW.
How Much Has WoW Cost Blizzard Since 2004?
http://kotaku.com/5050300/how-much-has-wow-cost-blizzard-since-2004