What was already obvious is now confirmed by figures on digital downloads in the Corona year 2020, which show a real boost. This was announced today. the Federal Association game It is known that this trend has increased to a share of 58 percent.
This means that, on average, 6 out of 10 games were purchased as downloads in 2020. The download share of revenue is slightly lower: around 4 out of every 10 euros generated by PC and console games in Germany in 2020 came from downloads. By comparison, in 2019 this figure was only 33 percent.
As a general rule, the cheaper the games, the higher the download share. For computer and video games up to €30, 8 out of 10 are purchased as downloads. This was announced today by game – the German Games Industry Association – based on data from the market research company GfK. There are also significant differences between PCs and game consoles: For PC games, the download share of sales is 94 percent. For game consoles like PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox, however, only about one in three games (35 percent) is purchased as a download, which still represents a significant increase compared to the previous year: In 2019, the share was 24 percent.
“The purchase of games via download established itself more slowly in Germany compared to other countries. Internet connections with insufficient bandwidth or numerous stores with games sections – from electronics stores to drugstores – led many gamers to continue using games on physical media. In the Corona year of 2020, the share of downloadable games has now increased dramatically. The store closures during the lockdowns contributed significantly to this,” says game Managing Director Felix Falk.
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This is also reflected in the annual reports of various publishers, where digital sales have long dominated. Germany is, after all, a third-world country when it comes to digital progress. The comparatively low bandwidth and ever-increasing download sizes are major obstacles. The cost of faster broadband is also significantly higher here than elsewhere.
