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PC Game Digital Downloads Surpass Retail Sales

Post Date: 2010-09-30
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Dragoonseal View Drop Down
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Posts: 2247 		  Quote Dragoonseal Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: PC Game Digital Downloads Surpass Retail Sales
    Posted: 30 Sep 2010 at 5:54pm
http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100920.html

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2010 - According to the PC Games Digital Downloads: Analyst Report, from leading market research company, The NPD Group, during the first six months of 2010 (Jan.-June), 11.2 million PC Game full-game digital downloads were purchased online compared to 8.2 million physical units purchased at retail during the same period.

The first half of 2010 is the first time period in which sales occurring via digital download comprised the majority of total PC game unit sales. However, games sold at physical retailers continue to maintain a greater share of dollar revenue at 57 percent versus 43 percent from digitally downloaded games. This is attributed to a higher average selling price at retail.

Top 5 Frontline Digital Retailers Jan.-June 2010 (based on unit % share)
1. Steamgames.com
2. Direct2drive.com
3. EA.com
4. Worldofwarcraft.com
5. Blizzard.com


Now you are not only paying more if you buy retail, but you are in the minority. Hahaha
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Sarah View Drop Down
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Posts: 879 		  Quote Sarah Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Sep 2010 at 6:00pm
I will continue to pay more for retail to have an official copy of what I amn paying for. The box, the cd, manual, etc, its all part of the purchase for me. 
Sarah
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Sep 2010 at 6:38pm
same
f digital, im ok with paying more becuase im getting more, i like the extras
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Mr. View Drop Down
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Posts: 510 		  Quote Mr. Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Sep 2010 at 7:30pm
oh the feeling of havin a collection of games in your shelf
Mr.
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Sarah View Drop Down
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Posts: 879 		  Quote Sarah Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Sep 2010 at 7:55pm
Originally posted by Mr.

oh the feeling of havin a collection of games in your shelf


And I do. I have an entire bookcase in my bedroom dedicated to all my PC games, and all my collectors editions for the games I own are neatly displayed in the livingroom.
Sarah
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JJJJ_Shabadoo View Drop Down
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Posts: 320 		  Quote JJJJ_Shabadoo Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Sep 2010 at 9:03pm
I'm with Dragoonseal on this one.

If a game isn't available on Steam I strongly consider not getting it.

I like having access to my entire game library anywhere I go. And with the ever increasing use of Steam Cloud for save game storage, I even have many of my save games easily and automatically accessible everywhere without having to go to the hassle of backing everything up to a jump drive or using a separate online solution.

And Steam's regular massive discounts on even relatively new, popular games put most retail sale prices to shame.

As opposed to the glorious olden days of cloth maps and massive manuals featuring tons of fluff, many non-collector edition games nowadays come with the box, a cd in a paper sleeve, and a quick start guide (and if you're extremely lucky an anemic manual) - all of which do nothing more than take up space, collect dust and (for me at least) add nothing to my enjoyment of the game.
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justin.kerr View Drop Down
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Posts: 5084 		  Quote justin.kerr Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Sep 2010 at 9:13pm
I don't like the boxes, because they always fall off the shelves and land on me, or the keyboard, mouse, monitor.. Damn subs  LOL
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AmbientChong11 View Drop Down
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Posts: 216 		  Quote AmbientChong11 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 01 Oct 2010 at 1:38am
I rarely buy PC games from brick and mortar anymore. I frequently buy from D2D having 10+ digital downloads. I really don't use Steam.
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teaiewold View Drop Down
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Posts: 216 		  Quote teaiewold Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 01 Oct 2010 at 1:50am
i do both. it depends on the game. if it's a game i'm super psyched for then i'll pre-order (hopefully they have a midnight release if it's a big title). going to the store, the anticipation while driving back from the store, then opening the game and popping that disk in the drive and watching the game load is like christmas to me.
 
i love steam as well. you can get some great prices on great games especially the older ones that are classics.
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Invader Mig View Drop Down
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Posts: 244 		  Quote Invader Mig Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Oct 2010 at 6:35am
Steam all the way, but for those special games, I must own a hard copy.
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maxyme View Drop Down
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Posts: 1514 		  Quote maxyme Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Oct 2010 at 4:04pm
I use steam. its just more convenient and faster to get it then buying it in a store. plus we can be lazy and don't have ot leave our computer to get it :)
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AmbientChong11 View Drop Down
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Posts: 216 		  Quote AmbientChong11 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Oct 2010 at 5:49pm
Depending on the size, which is at least 5GB, getting it at the store is much faster than waiting hours/days for the full download. I waited for days to play Aion and when it was done, I had to wait for hours for the patch to be downloaded.
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maxyme View Drop Down
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Posts: 1514 		  Quote maxyme Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Oct 2010 at 6:06pm
yea sometimes its true but its nice when you don't have time to go get a game. I do love reading the instruction manual though while it is installing but i usually just let it download overnight and its done by morning :)
Steam:pcmaster160
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Kaleliar View Drop Down
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Posts: 520 		  Quote Kaleliar Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Oct 2010 at 3:30pm
Ah but I am with Sarah.  I like spending the 15 min to go and buy, then I can install right away.  I mean what happens if you lose your HDD's? All that downloading you have to do to get all the games back.  Much rather have them on hand.

Though Justin you have a point with boxes... they hurt far more when its a CE of SC2 and it hits your barefoot.
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AmbientChong11 View Drop Down
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Posts: 216 		  Quote AmbientChong11 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Oct 2010 at 7:57pm
Originally posted by Kaleliar

I mean what happens if you lose your HDD's?
 
What happens if you lose both HDDs and the game disks?
 
You would have to buy another HDD (or SSD) and re-purchase games. Dd's will have the upper hand of having all downloaded games linked to your account for easy re-installation.
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kainhall View Drop Down
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Posts: 264 		  Quote kainhall Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Oct 2010 at 5:45pm
ambient chong, steam (and D2D) have all that info stored in there main servers, thats stored in a nother server ETC. so even if all of your HDDS fail, or even if there HDDS fail, your fine, becaue theres backps for the back ups.
 
i lost my 2005 hdd like 3 months ago, (put off replacing it.....) lost everything, and i did not have a copy of winblows, so i had to spent 180 bucks. downladed steam from there web site, redownlaoded all my games and now here i sit.
 
i like digital, i dont have disks to scratch, im really had on disks, i broke (snaped in half) like 3 in the past week, they were only DVD RW however!
steam friends is kainhall
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AmbientChong11 View Drop Down
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Posts: 216 		  Quote AmbientChong11 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Oct 2010 at 10:37pm
Originally posted by AmbientChong11

You would have to buy another HDD (or SSD) and re-purchase games. Dd's will have the upper hand of having all downloaded games linked to your account for easy re-installation.
 
Kainhall, yes, you just repeated exactly what I said Smile 
 
 


Edited by AmbientChong11 - 12 Oct 2010 at 10:38pm
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