Study: One in three US gamers would choose digital over retail

[garyopa]

Popularity in downloadable games has increased by 10%



According to the NPD Group, a third of US customers would rather buy their games via PSN, Xbox Live or Steam.

The NPD Group conducted a survey into the shopping habits of about 8,500 gamers.

Seems that 35% claimed they would rather purchase content digitally than in a shop.

The majority (65%) still would rather purchase at retail, yet support for digital had climbed by ten per cent since NPD's survey last year, the analyst firm said.

"Gamers are growing more comfortable in acquiring content online, as we saw the preference for digital increase ten percentage points from last year," said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.

"The proliferation of free games on mobile devices has reduced the barrier of entry for online gaming to zero, fuelling an increase in acquisition."

The survey also revealed that 40% of gamers obtained at least one game in both the physical and digital formats over the past 12 months.

And finally, it looks like more than one-in-five online gamer (+20%) stated that other members of their house are using their machines for other entertainment activities outside of gaming.

“Every year at E3, we hear about new non-gaming features being added to major console and portable device manufacturers’ online services,” added Callahan.

“It is reasonable to expect changes in the share of time and spend as consumers become aware and increasingly comfortable with the number of features, including gaming, available through their multifunctional devices.”

The data for the survey was collected over a three week period and included nearly 8,500 individual respondents.

NEWS SOURCE: One third of gamers would rather buy their games online (via) IGN

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!

[IJTF_Cinder]

Of course they would, until they see their internet bill each month where they're being screwed for overages on their bandwidth cap. Until they see that it takes forever to download a huge 30GB+ game on their connection that most Europeans scoff at, and until they realize down the road "Hey! They aren't letting me download that game I paid for anymore!".

It works for Steam because you can back your games up, it isn't gonna work on consoles until that happens(and more, like ISPs not being greedy shitheads)...which is NEVER.

[garyopa]

Of course they would, until they see their internet bill each month where they're being screwed for overages on their bandwidth cap. Until they see that it takes forever to download a huge 30GB+ game on their connection that most Europeans scoff at, and until they realize down the road "Hey! They aren't letting me download that game I paid for anymore!".

It works for Steam because you can back your games up, it isn't gonna work on consoles until that happens(and more, like ISPs not being greedy shitheads)...which is NEVER.

Yeah bandwidth caps, crazy.. -- They keep raising the speed but blocking you from using it. -- They just launched 175meg up and down here in Canada, but once you reach 300gigs you will be billed for every gig over. -- And the bandwidth counts both ways also up and down. -- Crazy. -- With things like Hulu+, Youtube HD, Netflix, LastFM+, etc. and all this DLC and digital games, look the latest ending update to Mass Effect almost 2gigs. -- Bandwidth is gone in matter of days. -- As lower end speeds like 50meg have worse caps like 60gigs, etc.

Here is the DR, we got fast 6meg speeds but they come with a 10gig cap, once i hit that I am limited to twice dial-up speed (128kb), no extra charges, but luckly I have business plan which is sadly only 2meg but no caps. (yet!)

[IJTF_Cinder]

I'm from Canada, the only 175mbit offering is in the big cities from Bell, there's 75mbit through Rogers and it's $99!!! a month, not including modem(rental or purchase) and it has a 250GB cap. If one does the math on that, you could blow through that cap in 7 days...SEVEN DAYS!

I don't use Bell or Rogers, but a TPIA...6mbit/1mbit with no caps. Caps should be ILLEGAL, there is ZERO basis in reality for them, and the fact that Bell and Rogers offer "Insurance" packages for more bandwidth proves it.

[billysastard]

i hate bias headlines.

what this survey says is that more than 2/3 of all people want proper retail games, i'd also love to know what percentage of the idiots that prefer digital do in fact only own digital only platforms (like i-crap).

[garyopa]

i hate bias headlines.

what this survey says is that more than 2/3 of all people want proper retail games, i'd also love to know what percentage of the idiots that prefer digital do in fact only own digital only platforms (like i-crap).

The problem with this survey it is too small:

The data for the survey was collected over a three week period and included nearly 8,500 individual respondents.

The second problem is it is an 'online survey' so already you going to have a higher percentage of people that are living online (digital only) to start with.

To get a proper piechart, you need to get out in the streets and survey people are NOT online, I know tons of people that buy games, have PS3 or X360, but don't even own a computer or browse forum sites or online gaming websites like IGN. -- So that just throws out this bias survey even more!

[billysastard]

The problem with this survey it is too small:



The second problem is it is an 'online survey' so already you going to have a higher percentage of people that are living online (digital only) to start with.

To get a proper piechart, you need to get out in the streets and survey people are NOT online, I know tons of people that buy games, have PS3 or X360, but don't even own a computer or browse forum sites or online gaming websites like IGN. -- So that just throws out this bias survey even more!

yes, i wasn't accusing us of the bias headline since that is how the story was portrayed.

its like standing outside an apple store on the day they are launching a new i-turd and asking people leaving if they think its the best turd available.

[Wakutan]

I prefer retail over digital. Give me a disk or cartridge instead of a bunch of 0's and 1's for my money. Plus as mentioned above it will take time downloading a 20GB+ game with this crappy capped bandwidth.

[JonathanD]

I do not have any sort of cap, thank god.... lol

But even then, I still prefer a physical copy of a game.

I have two digital distribution type things on my PC and thats all, one from Blizzard and one from Steam. Those two companies I at least semi trust. Blizzard only because all the games I have registered on the digital download thing, I also have hard copies of those games.Except Diablo III but Diablo III with its always on DRM... you might as well go full digital since having a physical copy gets you nothing.

Steam on the other hand I trust a little more than Blizzard, I have quite a few digital only copies of games. I trust them a little more since I can back those up and the whole steam install and run them completely offline if I wanted too. That goes a long ways to making me feel more in control.

[msanchez]

..."Hey! They aren't letting me download that game I paid for anymore!"....

And this is why I'm not going for the dd thing. Sony just made me double-think my whole stance on such a things. I don't mind waiting, but with most ISP capping their customers (I'm among the lucky ones that aren't), and then the fact that whenever they see fit they can just remove the game from their servers and you wouldn't have access to it.

[MadonnaProject]

who cares? every dlc only and online connected streaming console so far has been a flop. thats telling.

[IJTF_Cinder]

who cares? every dlc only and online connected streaming console so far has been a flop. thats telling.

I do, unfortunately the Sheepy masses aren't part of the crowd here(Save for a select few, I'm sure you know who)...they don't mod their systems, don't even know they can, and certainly aren't aware enough to know better than to accept Digital Distribution as status quo.

We don't set the rules corporate scum come up with, the world's Sheeple do...

[simian raticus]

I study wank all my life and I like watching porn!