Digital games revenue grew by 9% worldwide

According to SuperData the worldwide digital revenue reached $7.7 billion in April 2017. This figure is a 9% increase year on year compared with April 2016, showing consistent growth in the digital games market. Mobile game sales have grown 8%, the free to play MMO sector has also grown by 27%. However, this has been countered by a decline in pay to play, console, and PC games.

In the US, the digital games market was down year on year in March, which can be attributed to the lacklustre sales of publisher EA’s titles at the time, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Ghost Recon: Wildlands from Ubisoft. These games received somehow mediocre review scores, which is most likely why they didn’t sell as well as anticipated.

The free to play MMO, mobile, and console markets however, have all experienced high single digit revenue growth, which has served to counteract the decline seen in other sectors such as the premium PC segment. One such title, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, generated an impressive $34 million last month, even though the game is still in early access and therefore being constantly updated for bug fixes and new features. Thanks to this success the game made it to the top of the premium PC digital revenue chart for April, and seventh in the top ten PC games for the month worldwide.

In the console market EA have managed to maintain domination thanks to a number of titles, not least FIFA 17, which currently sits in the top spot of the console download games chart, the revenue for which has doubled year on year, largely thanks to FIFA Ultimate Team. Close behind the beloved football game is World War 1 shooter Battlefield 1, which has been bumped up from lower down in the charts thanks to the release of its first DLC, They Shall Not Pass. Finally, GTA 5 has consistently sees very strong sales appearing in top charts in the last several years. It has recently got a new DLC, Tiny Racers.

Top Grossing Titles by category – Worldwide, ranked by April 2017 earnings

Related Topics: Digital Distribution, Digital Gaming, Superdata

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