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[SwiftDeath]

Saw this linked in a journalist's twitter feed, found it interesting

http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/us-digital-games-market/

Core gamers are once again becoming the industry focus as social and mobile game platforms soften and saturate. Several key releases on digital console and in the free-to-play category suggests a re-engagement of publishers with traditional core gamers. After a period in which casual gamers on social and mobile platforms were all that mattered, the traditional gaming experience returns with publishers seeking to stake their claim at the beginning of the new console cycle. The digital games market continues to grow, reaching $936 million in total sales in March, up 9% year-over-year. Saturation and increasing marketing expense on mobile and social platforms level the digital playing field for incumbent publishers. Titles like Titanfall, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm target traditional gamer audiences, as Zynga and King struggle repeat their initial success with casual audiences.

On Activision's Ipad release of Hearthstone

Overall, the digital collectible card market shows both strong adoption and retention among gamers, with a twelve percent conversion to spending and an average revenue per paying player around $27 in the United States.

On Zynga failing to compete

Earlier we observed an improvement in user spending as a result of the user shake out on social gaming platforms. Consistent with this, we recorded another month-over-month increase in conversion, reaching 2.3% in March, up from 1.9% just six months ago. Despite this market improvement category leader Zynga has yet to show comparable results, and reported a conversion rate of 1.7% in its most recent earnings reports. Efforts to stem the tide by focusing more aggressively on the highly-monetizing social casino category have so far failed to deliver. Across its social casino titles Zynga currently earns about $0.13 per daily active user, compared to the $0.17 minimum of its closest competitors in the space.

On Candy Crush Saga

Despite heavy scrutiny, the company’s core franchise Candy Crush Saga showed a 1.2% improvement in overall spending month-over-month. In terms of monthly active users the game shows signs of saturation: after a period of continued growth, its mobile audience held steady in March with marginal growth (+0.3%) and a 2.1% decline among social players

On DLC attach rates and FPS preferences I guess???

In the US, one in four gamers who also regularly purchase additional digital content prefer first person shooters, making it the top ranked genre on digital console.

On digital and PC offerings in the US

Overall, the digital console and PC category increased two percent, month-over-month.

More at link

Lock if saturated

 

[R3TRODYCE]

Good stuff.

I love how consoles get all the games on release date now because it helps with impulse buys haha.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Is no one besides me and R dott B interested in our all digital dystopian future?

There should at the bare minimum be a light trolling of Zynga all things considered