Retail Slumps: Gamers Spend More on Digital, Rentals and Used Games
By Karla Robinson
August 14, 2012
August 14, 2012
- Retail sales of physical video games dropped 29 percent in June. Digital sales, however, rose 17 percent in Q2 from a year ago.
- “Traditional boxed retail sales of video games have been down throughout 2012, including a 29 percent dip in sales in June 2012 with $699.8 million generated, according to The NPD Group. But a new report from that research firm… shows new revenue streams are bolstering revenue for retailers and game makers alike,” notes The Hollywood Reporter.
- Despite the promising digital growth, U.S. consumer gaming spending dropped 16 percent in the second quarter with the lagging demand for physical software and hardware.
- “In addition to the $1 billion spent in the U.S. by consumers on new physical video games and PC games in the second quarter of 2012 (April-June), the total consumer spend on other physical forms of content (used and rental) reached $386 million, and content in digital format (full game and add-on content downloads, subscriptions, mobile games and social network games) generated $1.47 billion,” explains THR.
- “In the second quarter of this year, sales of content in a digital format have grown 17 percent over Q2 2011,” said analyst Anita Frazier of The NPD Group. “While this growth is in stark contrast to the declines in new physical software and hardware sales, the size of digital sales is not quite large enough to offset these declines, leading to an overall drop in consumer spending in Q2 by 16 percent.”
- Research in the UK, France and Germany indicates a similar trend; however, it “differed from the U.S. in terms of softer mobile spending, but greater stability in rental trends,” notes the report. “Growth in full-game and add-on content downloads in the second quarter is surprisingly similar as the content behind this increase is suitable to both markets.”
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