US Games Market Will Total $20.5bn This Year of Which 65% Digital

Revenues generated by US consumers on and in games will amount to $20.5bn this year. Approximately $6.4bn or 31% can be attributed to retail sales of new boxed games and another 4% to the retail margin on sales of pre-owned games. The majority of revenues, 65% or $13.3bn, is generated digitally through gaming on consoles, PCs, smartphones and tablets.

Compared to 2012, new and pre-owned game retail sales is expected to be down 10%, a significant improvement compared to the 21% decline in 2012. Growth of digital game spending was slightly over 10%, resulting in a modest year-on-year growth of 2% for the total US games market. Revenue figures include retail margin but do not include tax and consumer-to-consumer trading.

[yellowgerbil]

lol Totally skew the % by adding smartphones and tablets, which aren't REAL gaming systems and ONLY allow for digital.

[Volkama]

*deleted comment, you carry on.

[Saryk]

I disagree. Phones and Tablets now are not that great, but in the future they will be. This is no different from the new console vs the PC. Look how the console has come along.

[awi5951]

Yeah in 20 years when they have VR display support.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

One day there will be a day u can hook ur phone to a tv and play games over the cloud with a controller making home console not needed for non hardcore gamers.

Disagree.. Don't care. Will happen.

Not saying it's good to not own ur sh!t. But it will happen. Maybe 10 years or so.

ps5 or ps6 will be like this.
" http://tech2.in.com/news/ga...

[klecser]

How do you pause your game when you get a call? How do you do that over multiplayer?

Until you can answer those questions, this won't work.

[curtis92]

@Saryk

Consoles had/have actual controls. Read ANY review of a console based game that is ported to iOS and the common complaint is lack of controls that make it frustrating.

Point being: there are certain types of games that do well on tablets, but console experiences rarely ever translate to touch screen. That won't/can't change no matter how powerful tablets get.

[cluckey07]

Shutupandtakemymoney-
I thought the same thing. The only problem is that you will have to be able to hook up your phone wireless to the TV and be allowed to text and take calls while you are streaming to your tv. Otherwise it will never take over.

[Saryk]

@Curtis92

Bluetooth a controller. Hell I don't care, but when there is money to be made, someone will find away. And I see way more people playing on phones than I do PCs and consoles combined (me personally around in RL).

[rainslacker]

@Shutup

So it'll look like a webpage that doesn't exist anymore?

Kind of ironic don't you think?

[rambi80]

you may be right, but thanks to steam and psn i rarely bought anything physical this year. Its definitely a growing trend at the very least.

[MAULxx]

As long as I can buy my physical discs, play them, and have the freedom I currently have to choose to sell, give,loan, or whatever. I'll continue to buy console games. If this option is ever taken away and becomes like the PC model, that's where I stop.

[Saryk]

@ Maulxx

You need to take the red pill.

You can kiss those disc goodbye!Pure survival of the fittest. Disc cost money, so do those boxes and docs.

If you are any type of gamer, you will suck it up and enjoy the ride.

You know why I can say that. Because it is the exact same bullshit I said when copies were leaving brick and mortar stores for PC and Steam was an infant.

Edit: Now I own 360 games on Steam and 80 on GG, 20 Origin, 20 on Gamestop, and several on Greenman Gaming!

[rainslacker]

If demand for physical copies is there, there will be physical copies.

The thing with PC though is that the digital alternative became better than physical copies. However, you can still buy physical copies of many games.

Publishers won't cut off a revenue stream unless that revenue stream is completely unprofitable.

[paradigmfellow]

I don't support digital distribution of video games. I will stop being a gamer when it goes 100%

[DeadIIIRed]

Yep, when it goes 100% digital you can kiss goodbye the idea of owning your game as companies will have no reason not to view it as "leasing" from that point forward.

[KansasCityMan]

Man I hope that doesn't happen.

[Shinobi100]

If you take away smartphones and only talk about actual gaming systems, the numbers are probably closer to 80% physical

[ninjahunter]

Phone gaming is gaming too. In fact, i would say they are more game like than most games we get today. Like on phones you have A simple game with a fun, yet simple mechanic designed to be played. Then we look at consoles "You cant do that, follow the path, quick time or die, this game has to allow for EVERY DEMOGRAPHIC, you cant control the game right now, Cutscene."

Not to say that all phone games are good mechanically, or that all console games are hold forward to win, however, the most popular and respected games on both platforms do fall into line with what I said.

[ATi_Elite]

65% Digital with the majority of that coming from the PC!

31% from Boxed Sales! who is that? ALL Consoles with a very small percentage of that being PC.

65% Digital sales! who is that? the PC has the Lions share with small percentages from consoles, smart phones, and tablets.

The PC was projected to over take all consoles by 2015 in total revenue!

I just wish they broke this down into more definitive numbers so people can see that the PC is a JUGGERNAUT when it comes to Revenue.

$20.5bn is a healthy Industry and I hope quality games keeps it that way.

[rainslacker]

A majority of that digital is actually from phone/tablet apps. A majority of that is from micro-transactions, DLC, and subscriptions to things like World of Warcraft. That number is greatly skewed. Actual digital game purchases haven't even hit the 30% thresh hold yet(note: overall copies sold, not total revenue of the 65%), and unless games start getting smaller, or internet becomes faster and better, it's probably not going to move up as fast as it has in the past few years.

This article is talking of total revenue. It doesn't even take into account the variances of retail vs digital in other markets around the world, just the US, which spends a whole lot on those digital extras that aren't original game purchases.

[ATi_Elite]

You have ZERO clue to what you are saying.

If I buy a neon green gun in firefall that counts as Game Revenue.

If I buy Angry Birds for my Galaxy then that is Game revenue

If I buy a digital copy of Rome 2 off of Steam then that is game Revenue

f I go to the store and buy Company of Heroes 2 that counts as game revenue

so all of this adds into the 20 billion dollar a year game industry

buying some non game app on an iphone does NOT count. also show me how the numbers are SKEWED because I know you made that crap up because you have NEVER read a Gaming companies investor report that shows revenue made from Game apps, microsrransactions, digital and retail sales.

[rainslacker]

I was speaking purely of the initial game purchase. Like say someone buys GT6. That's the initial game purchase. That has not broken 30% yet. However, you are correct that revenue is revenue whether it comes from initial game purchases or purchases that add to the game, subscriptions, or other things.

Some reports break that down. But when we see these 65% revenues coming from digital, that does not give an accurate measure of how people are purchasing games, just where they're spending their money overall.

[Saryk]

Rome Total War cost a lot more than a phone game.

[AllroundGamer]

i also found myself buying almost every PC game digitally now, i have a good 100mbit net, so why not. Also there are such good deals on Steam (waiting for todays Xmas deals!) or HumbleBundles. But on consoles it's completely different, since the prices there are just horrible and the discounts sux... But as a PS+ member i just enjoy the "free" digital games :)

[chasegarcia]

I am honestly 100% ok with digital on PC. Games are extremely cheap and digital stores compete.

-On consoles it is a different story. Sony, Microsoft & Nintendo rarely give any discounts on digital games. The same game usually cost 3x as much as the pc counterpart.