1 in 5 copies of Destiny sold digitally, says study
Superdata research says US digital market has grown 12% YoY
New research from Superdata indicates a continuation of the move from physical to digital, with the US digital console market reportedly worth $96 million in October alone. Worldwide, digital console sales are expected to be worth $2.5 billion by the end of 2014.
Perhaps the most interesting statistic, though, is the assertion that one in every five copies of Activision's MMO-Shooter Destiny was purchased digitally, well above the average of 12 per cent that most big games can expect to sell via console download.
Console is still a small fraction of the whole, however. The report says that the entire US digital games market brought in $957 million in sales in October.
"For the holiday season we conservatively forecast the share of direct-to-consoles downloads of full games to double, as consumers seek to avoid the inconvenience of having to wait for delivery or stand in line," the report concludes.
The trend to full-price digital is undoubtedly tempered somewhat by the still widening price gap between digital and physical games, with players seemingly being asked to pay large margins for convenience. For more, read Rob Fahey's editorial, published this morning.