John-ShepardLike it or not, gamers, digital = the future.
While traditional packaged goods have fallen off in 2012, there's one aspect of video game sales that is on the rise: Digital distribution.
According to the NPD Group , downloadable content, subscription fees, mobile and social sales hit $1.47 billion in the April-June period, which is a 17% year-over-year increase. And that's higher than the packaged good business, which only came in at about $1 billion.
Still, NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier said the good performance by the digital branch wasn't enough to offset the continual decline in overall software and hardware sales. The firm's expectation is that the US industry was down 16% for the quarter, which falls in line with the rest of a disappointing year. Sales have been down year-over-year between 15 and 20% throughout 2012 thus far; here's hoping a busy fall can halt the slide.
I think part of the reason digital sales are rising is price point, if I get a much better deal buying digital game compared to physical disc, i'll buy digital copy.
just goes to show how f*cking lazy people are!
hell i just bought skyrim on PC yesterday for 38 bucks!
how much is it on steam?
60!
i really cant understand why steam is so popular!
it NEVER works!
if i had a nickel for every time its f*cked up on me, well, you get the point by now!
its way more expensive!
its DEAD slow!
you constantly are forced to update the game if you want to play it.
ect,ect,ect……..
just so many pains it causes for what?
100 cons for what pros?
im sorry but im yet to see a single reason to buy games online than at retail!
I admit I'm buying more online games, recently Rainbow Moon and Malicious. Then there's Journey. The quality of the games has just gone up.