Digital and alternative revenue streams generated $3.3 billion in Q4 2011
NPD Group reports strong fourth quarter sales from sources outside of new physical retail
Sales of game content from revenue streams outside of new physical retail topped $3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011.
According to data released by the NPD Group, revenue from used games, rentals, subscriptions, digital downloads, social games, mobile games and DLC hit $3.33 billion in the US, the UK, Germany and France.
The United States had the largest share by far, generating $2.04 billion in revenue. The UK came in second place with almost $508 million, followed by Germany with $461 million and France with $320 million.
"Now that we've established our Europe based service covering the UK, France, and Germany, we can begin working directly with clients to help them dissect at deeper levels how the unique market drivers specific to each country can help them understand the increasingly global nature of the games industry," said European industry analysr Sam Naji in a statement.
"It's fascinating to see the nuances in consumer behaviour across geographies," added NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "Clearly these other forms of content acquisition do not follow as consistent of a trend as we see with the established box product business in the US."