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Digital games up 9% in May to $7.8 billion - Superdata

Research firm finds steep drops in premium PC and console spaces offset by mobile, free-to-play growth

Superhero fighter Injustice 2 had a strong launch last month, but it was mobile gaming that saved the day. According to research firm Superdata, the worldwide digital games market brought in $7.8 billion in May, a 9% jump year-over-year.

That growth was attributable to mobile (up 16% year-over-year), free-to-play games (up 17%) and pay-to-play/subscription games (up 12%). While Superdata estimated digital console sales of 500,000 copies for Injustice 2, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 fighting game was unable to prevent console digital revenues from shrinking 7% year-over-year.

That drop was partly attributable to the May 2016 launch of Overwatch, which set a high revenue bar in a historically slow part of the year. The decline was even worse on PC, which didn't have a version of Injustice helping to offset the decline. Year-over-year, digital revenues in the premium PC space were down 30%.

PC:

  1. League of Legends
  2. Crossfire
  3. Fantasy Westward Journey Online II
  4. Dungeon Fighter Online
  5. DOTA 2
  6. World of Warcraft
  7. World of Tanks
  8. Overwatch
  9. New Westward Journey Online II
  10. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Console:

  1. FIFA 17
  2. Grand Theft Auto V
  3. Battlefield 1
  4. Injustice 2
  5. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
  6. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
  7. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
  8. Overwatch
  9. NBA 2K17
  10. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege

Mobile:

  1. Clash Royale
  2. Clash of Clans
  3. Monster Strike
  4. Mobile Strike
  5. Game of War: Fire Age
  6. Fate/Grant Order
  7. Candy Crush Saga
  8. Lineage 2 Revolution
  9. Fantasy Westward Journey
  10. Honour of Kings

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Brendan Sinclair avatar
Brendan Sinclair: Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot.
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