English
Gamereactor
news

Only 8% of PC games are sold at retail

Analyst estimates puts vast majority of revenue in digital. PC revenue surpasses consoles, but new gen might catch-up.

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ

You don't walk down the street and visit your friend at the local video game retailer if you're looking for the latest PC games anymore. You buy it digitally and download it directly from home.

This tough news for retailers is true for at least 92% of all PC game sales, according to analyst DFC Intelligence (and via PCR). This means almost nobody buys traditionally boxed game discs for computers anymore.

The figure is based on an analysis for all PC game sales in 2013, and we assume it includes additional content (but not hardware or accessories). As digital sales percentage is expected to increase, it paints an inevitable digital-only future for PC games market.

Of course the trend is also increasing in consoles, with new digital platforms and constant promotions, but publishers still see the power (and the profit) at retail with collectors and traditional console players (though they still like to share and borrow games).

On another note, which may sound more surprising for some, same analyst claimed PC games market revenue surpassed that of consoles last year. Main reasons? The MOBA and F2P explosions, it seems. We'll see if it's different this year, after the PS4 and Xbox One have launched and delays of many high profile titles.

Only 8% of PC games are sold at retail


Loading next content