2011 was, on the whole, another good year for the video and PC gaming industries, although it did see a slight decline in total sales from 2010. Sales figures for most of the year were positive, with several high profile games released on PC and across the major consoles, but December software sales actually fell by a significant amount (from $2.37 billion last year to $2.04 billion).
December is usually the biggest month of the year, but despite the drop this year the overall industry was only down 2% from what it was a year ago. According to the NPD Group, total consumer spend on gaming is estimated to be somewhere between $16.3 billion to $16.6 billion. These numbers included sales across all monetization methods including new and used physical PC and video games, digital downloads, rentals, mobile and social network games, and additional downloadable content.
Consumer spend at retail establishments still generated the majority of the industry’s revenues, and retail sales for PC, console, and portable games were at $9.3 billion. However, this was also down about 8% from last year.
Many of these declines, though, were offset by other changes in the marketplace. Software for HD consoles saw sales increase of 9% throughout the year, as casual gamers made the shift to the other consoles. Sales of used games, full-game digital downloads, and mobile apps were also experiencing increases.
There are a number of theories to explain the decreases in 2011. The consoles are reaching the end of their expected lifecycles, which means gamers begin looking toward the next product rather than continue to support the current systems. Also, this year’s top selling games were all part of an established franchise. Of the top 10 games of 2011, two of them were sequels and the other eight were on their third or higher iteration. This leads to a certain amount of fatigue in the industry as pc gamers look for new experiences.
In the console market, consumers are spending less per title, and buying fewer units. While this is not unexpected at the end of a console’s lifecycle, manufacturers will still look for new ways to monetize their products (which has let to new business models like subscription services and downloadable content). The PC gaming industry is also seeing a large shift toward digital downloads of complete games, which will likely have a major impact on the way 2012 turns out.