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- 6 in 10 PC and console games sold in 2020 were purchased as downloads
- Share of sales revenue from game downloads rises to over 40 per cent
- Great differences between PC and console games
- German games market grows to 8.5 billion euros in 2020
The trend of purchasing computer and video games by download accelerated significantly in the Covid-19 year 2020. Alongside the mail-order trade, the only option open to many games fans during periods of closed retail businesses was purchase via download to PCs and games consoles. This spurred a jump in the download share of sales in PC and console games from 45 to 58 per cent within 12 months – meaning that 6 in 10 games purchases in 2020 were made via download. The download share of sales revenue is somewhat lower: downloads account for about 4 in 10 euros in sales made in Germany in 2020 with PC and console games, up from 33 per cent in 2019. As a general rule, the cheaper the game is, the greater the share of download purchases. 8 in 10 computer and video games costing up to 30 euros are purchased as downloads. These are the numbers released today by game – the German Games Industry Association, based on data collected by the market research company GfK. There are big differences between PC and games consoles. For PC games, the download share of sales is 94 per cent. For games consoles like PlayStation, Switch and Xbox, on the other hand, only about 1 in 3 games (35 per cent) is purchased via download. However, this represents a considerable increase in comparison to 2019, when the share was 24 per cent.
‘The purchase of games via download has taken longer to establish itself in Germany than in other countries,’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. ‘Many players continue to buy games on data storage devices due to internet connections with too little bandwidth or the numerous businesses with games departments – from electronics retailers to drugstores. In the Covid-19 year 2020, there was a tremendous surge in the share of download games. Not least, the shop closures during the shutdowns contributed strongly to this development.’
German games market: big jump in sales revenue in 2020
