PC Game Downloads Were Almost Even with Retail Purchases in 2009, says NPD
Industry Gamers, 7/21/10
The NPD Group, which tracks retail point-of-sale data for the U.S. games industry, has been trying to broaden its scope by covering more digital downloads. Today the firm issued a new report on the PC gaming sector called PC Games Digital Downloads: Analyst Report. It shows that in the PC world, digital game downloads have nearly reached parity with in-store purchases. In 2009, 21.3 million PC Game full-game digital downloads were purchased online in the U.S. compared to 23.5 million physical units purchased at retail.
While the PC games sector has been in decline, strictly when looking at retail, many of these purchases have shifted to digital. PC digital downloads represented close to half of unit sales across digital and retail at 48 percent in 2009, and accounted for 36 percent of dollar sales.
