NPD: Digital Growth Offset Decline In New Retail Software In 2010

Newly released data from the NPD group shows that massive growth in U.S. spending on digital games and associated content helped offset a previously reported decrease in new retail game sales for the year. NPD's recently completed estimates put the total U.S. consumer spend on "games content" in 2010 -- including sales of downloadable games and content as well as new retail releases -- at $15.9 billion, down less than half a percent from 2009. That's in sharp contrast to new U.S. retail software sales alone, which NPD data previously showed declining 5 percent in 2010 to $10.1 billion for the year. Comparing those numbers puts purely digital game content sales for 2010 at $5.8 billion, or about 36 percent of the total software market. This is a significant increase from 2009, where digital content combined with used games, rentals and subscriptions to represent only $4.5 to $4.7 billion in U.S. sales, according to NPD. That would peg annual growth in the digital segment for 2010 at a minimum of roughly 23 percent. NPD currently does not include digital sales in its monthly reports on total industry spending, though it recently acquired digital tracking specialist In-Stat and has said it is planning to add such digital monthly reports soon. Last month, EA representative Tiffany Steckler said the digital-free monthly NPD data was "a misrepresentation of the entire industry."