Global digital games revenue hit $7.6bn in December - SuperData
Poor sales of physical goods offset by digital growth
Video game digital revenue increased 10% last month to $7.6bn, SuperData reports.
Sales of digital console games grew 16% during December, which helped offset the decline at physical retail - which SuperData says was the worst in two decades. The data firm says purchasing habits is trending towards digital distribution in the console space, with full game downloads increasing 21%.
Mobile remains the dominant digital platform, growing 11%. Super Mario Run failed to break into Top Ten digital grossing charts - which suggests that the 'free-to-start' model hasn't worked incredibly well for Nintendo in terms of commercials. Although it'll be interesting to see how that performs over time.
SuperData also calls out a disappointing performance for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, which was down 23% in December compared with the previous year's Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
Globally, free-to-play games including League of Legends, Crossfire and Dungeon Fighter Online continue to lead the market, with this sector increasing 7% year-on-year.
Here are SuperData's top-selling digital charts by category for December 2016:
