tagged w/ xbox 360 sales
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state of 3DPC gaming.
During said presentation I was showed a series of rather informative slides, one of which stood out far more than others:
That’s right, their research shows that PC game software sales will eclipse console game software sales by 2014!
I know what you’re thinking. “Madness! How can that be possible!? Nobody buys PC games anymore, they hardly even sell them in stores!”
Well, you’re absolutely right.
As you may have guessed, the rise in PC game sales is due to the ever expanding number of digital mediums which make it possible to not only purchase, but spend money in PC games.
As you can see, the majority of PC game sales are not packaged at all, they’re mostly digital. Moreover, the forms of digital distribution and sales associated with them are growing exponentially each and every day.
You may be familiar with rapidly growing digital distribution channels such as Steam, Direct2Drive and GoG that sell full games both new and old directly to players over the internet. However, let’s not forget the other ways in which gamers spend money on PC games.
World of Warcraft, which is run as a monthly subscription based MMO, racks up sales in the billions each and every year due to it’s tremendous player base:
And WoW is certainly not the only subscription based MMO out there. New MMO’s like TERA, Guild Wars 2, and The Old Republic are still on the horizon, and they too will contribute to the growth of PC game sales.
However, there’s still more. High profile Free-To-Play games such as League of Legends, World of Tanks and the upcoming Tribes: Ascend have their own business models which allow players to play the game for free, but spend money on in-game features and items to enhance their experience. Gamers spend millions on these “mico-transactions” each and every year.
Let’s also not forget the thousands of free to play Korean MMO’s you’ve never heard of and browser and Facebook based mobile and social games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars that rake in billions a year for companies like Zynga.state of 3DPC gaming.
During said presentation I was showed a series of rather... more
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