US Games Sales Rise Via Digital But Fall at Retail

Retail Games vs. Digital

According to a recent U.S. report by The NPD Group, digital games sales almost made up for the drop in retail sales for Quarter 2 of 2013.
Of the $2.88 billion consumers spent on video games between April and June, $1.77 billion was spent on digital content. This includes full games, subscriptions, add-ons, mobile and social games.

The NPD Group credits the 3 percent sales drop, from Quarter 2 last year, to anticipation of the upcoming Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.

"[This] is to be expected as developers, publishers and consumers alike prepare for the next hardware generation," Liam Callahan, industry analyst at The NPD Group, said. Increases in digital format spending offset nearly all the losses from the declines in physical format spending."