The Digital Age Marches On: Digital Gaming Sales Hit $61 Billion

While many people still clamor for physical copies and criticize the use/ownership of digital games, worldwide digital video game sales hit a record high in 2015.

"Sales figures points toward a shift in the industry as more consumers have adopted digitally distributed games and free-to-play," said SuperData CEO and founder Joost van Dreunen.

Notably, console gaming saw the biggest jump in digital and a slight decrease in physical purchases

Downloads to consoles like Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation saw the biggest jump. Digital console game sales were up 34 percent last year, though the category remained relatively small at $4 billion.

At the same time, software sales at brick-and-mortar stores continued to fall, slipping 13 percent to $5.3 billion, according to NPD Group.

Of course the dominant force in digital game sales was PC based gaming at $32 billion. However this includes not just digital game sales but free 2 play, subscription services, and browser shit as well. The cesspool that is League of Legends remained king of digital outfits

The big moneymaker in absolute dollar terms was PC-based gaming, which includes free-to-play titles, subscription-based games, social games like "Farmville," and other downloads. Games on the platform pulled in $32 billion in 2015.

There were signs of weakness in the category, though. Social gaming was down marginally, and subscription-based titles slipped 4 percent as free-to-play games — which earn their developers money from premium in-game purchases — continued to dominate PC sales.

Riot Games' "League of Legends" was the top dog among free-to-play games. The multiplayer online battle arena game earned $1.6 billion in revenues — seven times more than its closest competitor in the genre.

These are the supposed top sellers in digital gaming (i ignored mobile gaming because no one cares)

Digital console

1. "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" (Activision, $355)

2. "FIFA 15" (Electronic Arts, $332)

3. "Grand Theft Auto V" (Take-Two Interactive, $322)

4. "Destiny" (Activision, $291)

5. "Call of Duty: Black Ops III" ()

6. "FIFA 16" (Electronic Arts, $212)

7. "Fallout 4" (Bethesda Softworks, $108)

8. "Star Wars Battlefront" (Electronic Arts, $106)

9. "Madden NFL 16" (Electronic Arts, $76)

10. "Madden NFL 15" (Electronic Arts, $73)

Digital PC

1. "League of Legends" (Tencent/Riot Games, $1,628)

2. "Crossfire" (SmileGate, $1,110)

3. "Dungeon Fighter Online" (Neople, $1,052)

4. "World of Warcraft" (Activision, $814)

5. "World of Tanks" (Wargaming.net, $446)

6. "Lineage I" (NCSOFT Corporation, $339)

7. "Maplestory" (Nexon, $253)

8. "DOTA 2" (Valve Corporation, $238)

9. "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" (Valve Corporation, $221)

10. "Grand Theft Auto V" (Take-Two Interactive, $205)

So have you gone all digital this gen or do you still cling to your physical copies? Are you afraid of Skynet repossessing your gaming library?

Source

Who was it again who said PC was struggling?

Digital suits me best on handhelds, on consoles I prefer physical because I can usually borrow it from a library that way.

Its good to see them selling well. I like buying small games on the eShop for my 3DS.

all digital for me, I think digital on PC is great since they can easily be backed up and transferred to new systems. However, if I owned a console I would cling to physcial copies over digital ones

I prefer physical because if I buy a game digitally and don't like it that is $60 wasted. The only $60 games I have bought digitally this generation are Destiny and Bloodborne and thankfully I got more than my money's worth out of both of them.

I was considering buying Street Figher V digitally as I'm sure that is a game I'll play for a long time, but Amazon Prime has made buying physical even more appealing now.

I'm getting into digital this year, but i still much rather have a copy of a game.

@Blabadon: " I prefer physical because I can usually borrow it from a library that way."

What?

Libraries around me offer more than books and movies here.

inb4 "lol PC gaming free to play crap games"

I want to point out that the $32 Billion PC made was from over 1 00 million different games.

The $5.3 Billion made by consoles is divided by like a 100 releases.

So I am more impressed by consoles numbers that they can generate so much money from so few games, but PC needs 100 million garbage games from mobile and facebook to get high numbers.

What are you talking about now?

Simple mathematics.

@lostrib: I think he's trying to start a moving goal posts?

By the end of this console generation, digital sales will be higher than that of physical sales on consoles. They might be higher enough that Sony and Microsoft won't give a *** about physical media and launch the Xbox Next and PS5 as Digital Only platforms.

Dat breakdown. Need a tissue?

Digital game sales at $4 billion versus retailers selling $5.3 billion, digital console sales are on their way to surpass the retailers.

@l0ngshot: Why so aggressive? Before that post, did he ever want to prove consoles are superior that way?

Sad to see the terrible f2p model games topping it but it's quite obvious why it is so, the simplified pay gated simlified dota at 1.6b when dota2 is sitting at less than tenth of revenue, obviously lol has higher playerbase too but that paygate is the difference in revenue for sure.

Math is hard ;_;. So who's alt is this?

When it comes to consoles, they still lack the proof of the digital sales being worth it in the long run, so it is no wonder why you would prefer Physical on console, think most does tbh, it is likely that the digital games will end up simply vanishing into a void at each console refresh.

Digital games are way more immersive.

like if those shooting gallery games like cod, gta and battlefraud are any better, same garbage every fucking year. I am glad that pc gamers dont have to play the same garbage every year, otherwise we would be just as depressed as those lonely console gamers.

@Blabadon: "Libraries around me offer more than books and movies here."

I was shocked when I heard about movies can be lent out, but since when did they add games? Any separate rules for renting games/movies?

I'm talking about physical libraries that you visit for books.

For borrowing movies and games it's usually one week, then depends on the library afterwards as to if you can renew it or not and how many times.

"PC has no games"
"PC has too many games"

lol the strawman is real

Holy hell,how much has changed in the last few years where the PC was a bit behind consoles revenue wise,to more or less the same to being the highest grossing platform.

Actually I'm more impressed by PC supporting so many niches, and consoles not having more than 100 worthwhile games in those years they've been out.

Bravo, PC ! Keep on satisfying everyone's taste !

Wow I had to read the topic twice to ensure you meant "Billions" and not "Millions". Glad to see my favorite hobby showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.

Amazed that Lineage 1 still makes that kind of money

@Blabadon: "I'm talking about physical libraries that you visit for books."

I know that. Some years ago they started lending out DVD movies too.

im surprised they still support both lineage 1-2. gotta respect that kind of commitment

When they make ridiculous amount of money for next to no work, why wouldn't they?