Now I know that I’ve said that digital distribution is the future of gaming, and NPD recently stated that digital downloads have outpaced retail purchases by $3 million, but a more thorough look reveals that those numbers don’t account for market penetration.
It sees as though only about 6% of console owners have purchased DLC in the past six months (a number that is lower than the 15% of PC and Mac users who have downloaded content). So, while I personally purchase quite a bit of digital content, it seems that I’m the minority of console owners and even more telling is how far we are from 100% of games being digitally distributed. I suppose the real question is, “why don’t people trust downloaded titles?” I know that for me, the problem was longevity. I had a hard time believing that my purchases wouldn’t be lost eventually and my money would have been wasted. Time has actually proven me wrong as I have every title I’ve ever downloaded since I first bought an Xbox 360. Perhaps it’s because people still want to have physical ownership of what they buy, even though it seems like the widespread downloading of mp3s would have changed that mindset.
Whatever the reason, it looks like there is still a lot of room to grow in the DLC arena, and we’re possibly decades from the time when people will be happy with purely digital ownership.
Today’s Gaming News
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath for Xbox 360 Held Up By Size Restriction
Child of Eden Feels Hardcore With a Pad, Casual With Kinect
Fable III Kingmaker Mobile Game Coming
Microsoft: Kinect will be the biggest launch “in the history of the industry”
Resistance 3 Screenshots and Concept Art Leak
Uncharted 2 Getting Game of the Year Edition October 12
ModNation Racers Joins The Line-up Of Cheaper PS3 Games
New PS3 Greatest Hits Announced
PSP2 dev kits widely released – Report
Swords & Soldiers hits PSN today
WiiWare Gets Its Wipeout On With FAST
“Nintendo” Might Not Mean What You Think
November 11 3DS launch date leaked?
Eve Online Developer Working on Vampire: The Masquerade MMO
Wing Commander: Privateer Gemini Gold
Report: Only Six Percent of U.S. Console Owners have Downloaded Content in Past Three Months
Pac-Man Exhibition Opens This Weekend in Tokyo
Independent Game Hit Minecraft Making up to $350,000 a Day
Man Builds Computer Inside Computer Game
Nothing Says I Love You Like An Arrow In The Face
Registration Opens For PAX East 2011
At Least One Japanese Game Developer Is Doing Great
So, Who Is The Most Popular Character From Street Fighter IV?
What Do A Tokyo Cop And A Lawyer Think Of Yakuza 3?
What are the Children of Eden?
Project MyWorld buyer revealed – Report
Gaming’s most satisfying uppercuts
Your photo could be a Child of Eden spoiler
Taliban controversy taking toll on Medal of Honor team’s morale
Sonic 4 confirmed for an official October 7th-15th landing on all announced platforms
Red Dead Undead DLC art rots the brain
Planescape: Torment available on Good Old Games
No Gods Or Kings, Only Claptraps
Setting Up Kinect Is Like Preparing For A Date
Trailers
Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp Gadgets Trailer