Destiny is one of the bigger games of the year, and one analyst thinks it’s a big reason that publisher Activision reported its all-time high digital revenues for its Q3.
One in five copies of Destiny were sold through digital channels, according to industry intelligence firm SuperData Research. That contributed to digital spending on games reaching $957 million in October, which is up 12 percent year-over-year. In addition to Destiny, that growth comes from Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners adopting digital games faster than anticipated. SuperData chief executive officer Joost van Dreunen notes that console digital sales reached $96 million for the month.
“As the interactive entertainment market prepares to end 2014 on a high note,” said van Dreunen, “bets made earlier in the year are already starting to pay off as publishers observe a growing percentage of sales via digital channels. With major publishers now fully behind digital distribution, this year’s big titles so far sold, on average, 12 percent of total units via digital downloads on consoles.”
That’s higher than an average of around 10 percent on old-gen consoles, according to publisher Electronic Arts. The high end for most games is around 15 percent — although other recent examples, like Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, have surpassed that figure.
“Notably, in its first two months since launch, Activision’s Destiny sold roughly twenty percent of full game downloads on consoles,” said van Druenen. “Driven by the combination of a growing install base of next-gen devices and aggressive preorder incentives at retail.”
Based on this year’s growth, the SuperData researcher is making the bold claim that digital games will make up around 24 percent of sales next holiday.
In addition to console sales, mobile and PC digital raked in the cash with $327 million and $212 million in revenues, respectively. But that doesn’t mean mobile gaming is the gold rush it once was.
“Game developers are becoming increasingly cautious of the mobile market’s volatility,” said van Druenen. “As development and marketing costs continue to rise, a growing number of small and medium-sized development studios, often the source of innovative content, increasingly focus their attention on sustainability.”
Free-to-play games, however, struggled a bit during the month. A highlight of this was EA’s decision to pull support for its in-development multiplayer online arena battler Dawngate.
“It appears that League of Legends and Dota 2 have that market to themselves,” said van Druenen. “Despite the growing success of Smite in key market, the title is a distant third, followed by a slew of promising contenders that are currently still in beta like Arena of Fate from Crytek.”
When it comes to MOBAs, the only market that still appears up for grabs is on the tablet.