According to market research company NPD, US consumers spent an estimated $5.9 billion on videogames, hardware and accessories in the first quarter of 2011. The figure represents a 1.5 per cent increase year-on-year, with $2.03 billion accounting for video and PC game sales.
In total, an estimated $1.85 billion was spent on used games, rentals, subscriptions, digital downloads, social titles, DLC and mobile games.
"While the new physical retail channel still generates the majority of industry sales, our expanded research coverage allows us to assess the total consumer spend across the growing number of ways to acquire and experience gaming, including mobile apps and downloadable content," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
"Through a combination of point-of-sale and consumer research tracking, The NPD Group is providing an expanded, more comprehensive measure of a dynamic and rapidly evolving games industry."
The report follows technology analyst firm Gartner's prediction earlier in the month that the total global spend on videogames in 2011 will be around $74 billion.
Source: NPD
Comments
6USA... the most important place for game sales.
Can't argue with that!
I can... and I'm from there. I hate patriotism, of all kinds. Flags especially cause me to rage.
Hey, I'm a Brit so I don't think I can quite be described as a US patriot. But the sheer size of the US market means that yes, it is the most important place for game sales. And living over here with all the focus that companies give to the US, that can be very annoying.
But then you'll (not you **particularly**) be the first to whine about the perks of USA game retailers like GS and the relative pricing of games here compared to in the UK/EU, and then wind up ordering through the post for most of your games to get a comparatively US price-point. That is hypocrisy.
I love GameStop...it's not killing the industry...you are by supporting games like LA Noire made in developer-hell with little offered in the way of "gaming." I'll be getting the DA2 DLC though--paradox!