PC Games Downloads Neck-and-Neck with Boxed Retail Versions

A recent study by the NDP Group showed that full PC-game digital download sales in the US were almost equal to boxed PC game sales in 2009.


The study showed that in 2009, sales of Games on Demand (GoD) downloads accounted for 48% of total PC games sold, with 21.3 million downloads and 23.5 million boxed retail versions sold.

Top 5 Frontline Digital Retailes - 2009 (based on unit % share)
1	Steampowered.com
2	Direct2drive.com
3	Blizzard.com
4	EA.com
5	Worldofwarcraft.com

The increasing uptake of video games downloads seems to be largely explained by lower prices and greater consumer convenience. In fact, even though GoD accounted for almost 50% of total games sales in 2009, the revenue generated was no more than 36% of dollar sales.

With GoD, users no longer have to trek out to the shops to buy a game or wait for it to be delivered from an online retailer. With digital games download platforms, you simply pick your game, pay for it and then start downloading (download time depends on the speed of your broadband connection). As soon as it's finished, you can start playing your brand new game.

All this is bad news for high-street retailers, as with so many advantages to downloading, it's not likely that the enthusiasm for games downloads will wane in 2010. In fact, we're more likely to see downloads overtake boxed versions!



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