Industry-tracking firm SuperData has asserted that digital game sales reached $1.2 billion USD in December 2014, up 11% when compared to December 2013.
While the spending was over mobile and console gaming, mobile spending was down overall.
“Mobile and digital console grew 17 percent and 10 percent in [December], respectively,” SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen said. “Social gaming, on the other hand, is showing a 10 percent decline, totaling $184 million in sales compared to $204 million a year earlier.”
The firm attributes the rise in digital spending to new, current-gen consoles, though it seemed to fluctuate.
“Totaling $110 million in sales, digital [game revenue] on both the PS4 and Xbox One jumped as the year came to a close,” said van Dreunen. “Compared to November, both platforms sold on average 12-times more full game downloads. But obviously, they did so at a lower-than-usual price. The monthly average transaction value on PS4 dropped from $20 to $11, and from $21 to $7 on the Xbox One.”
Of course, Christmas also helped.
“If you asked Santa, he’d say the mobile games market had been both naughty and nice to publishers this season,” said van Dreunen. “During the holidays, the overall user base for mobile gaming tends to grow in absolute numbers but has now started to show early signs of saturation. In December 2014, the monthly active user base in the United States grew 8 percent, from 264 million in 2013 to 287 million. A year before, the mobile game audience jumped 20 percent, up from 218 million in December 2013.”
Is your 2014-2015 games library mostly digital or physical?
Update: We mistakenly wrote million instead of billion in our original report. Blame Monday mornings before coffee.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
