Retail PC Game Revenues Decline 14% in 2008

From DailyTech: According to numbers released by NPD, PC game sales in the United States fell to $701 million in 2008, down 14% from 2007. During 2007, PC games sales fell by 6%. In comparison, video game console software revenue grew by 26% in 2008 according to a Gamasutra article.

The Gamasutra article goes on to suggest one of the causes for the decline in retail PC game revenue is the changing distribution model consumers can choose from when purchasing their games.

The NPD numbers do not take in to account games purchased and downloaded online or subscription based games. It is unclear how much subscription based massively multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft are taking away revenue that would have been spent on retail PC games. According to GameDaily, NPD maintains a quarterly online game subscription tracking report that provides this information and will be available next week.

The Gamasutra article also suggests the growth of downloadable PC game services such as Big Fish Games and PopCap may also be contributing to the decline in retail PC game sales. NPD numbers do not track these sales.

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