The ELSPA download chart explained
Sam Collins on the thinking and methodology behind compiling the PC digital info
Yesterday ELSPA announced its plans for the formation of a UK PC download chart, to sit alongside the existing boxed product edition.
Here, the organisation's commercial manager Sam Collins, explains why it's important, and uncovers more about the thinking that's gone into producing it.
Digital is Booming...We Think
It's 2010 and the digital interactive entertainment industry is in the middle of transition. One thing is absolutely certain though - content holders no longer have to rely solely on traditional boxed products for their revenue. The world of digital distribution is alive, thriving and set to play an even bigger part in the lives of content creators and consumers alike.
All three console manufacturers have their own shops or 'market places' and all are regularly reporting 'growth'. Indeed Apple reported, in quarter one this year, that it served its 3 billionth download from the App store.
While this is an amazing time for content creators, there is one slight issue - at this time, there's no information available, publicly or otherwise, to quantify the size and value of the whole digital distributed entertainment market.
Of course, Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony know their own market stats, but no one knows the whole picture - not even them. As content creators we know our own sales numbers, but cannot measure our product's performance against the market - and being naturally hard wired competitive types, us humans just don't like that at all.
So in 2009 when I was working for Midas Interactive and heard that ELSPA was forming a members digital distribution working group to look at the whole issue and discuss how we could work on ways to change this, I jumped at the chance to join and take part in the debate.
It was nice to work collaboratively with competitors to produce a PC download chart for the UK, very much as a first step towards a more data-rich environment in which business decisions can be made. I have since joined ELSPA as commercial manager and this project is now down to me to deliver. It was obvious to everyone in the group that the console platform holders did not want to share their sales data with anyone, just yet, and that is not really a surprise. I am sure that, in time, data will become available.
However, within the PC market, according to the statistics that are available, there has been a gradual decline in terms of retail boxed sales for some years. The perception is that revenues from online sales, both by digital download and by subscription based models have grown substantially. Indeed digital sales now represent a significant proportion of the overall PC games market.
But exactly the same challenge applies - it's impossible to quantify that revenue as there is no single source of data available upon which to base any market estimates. Given that the PC is an open publishing platform and there is no platform holder, it should be possible to measure this market, all be it starting from the very basics.