Global digital games market rises to $7.47bn, growing 9.8% YOY

The global digital games market soared to $7.47bn in January 2017, showing a healthy growth of 9.8 per cent year-on-year, according to a new report from SuperData Research.

Digital console and premium PC showed the biggest rise worldwide, with increases of 32 and 34 per cent year-on-year respectively. In the US, meanwhile, the digital console market rose by 43 per cent year-on-year, showing the shift to digital shows no signs of slowing down.

The rise in spending was largely attributed to holiday season sales spilling over to the New Year, with EA’s FIFA 17 claiming the No.1 spot in SuperData’s best-selling digital console games worldwide ranking chart.

Grand Theft Auto V, meanwhile, came in at No.2, with SuperData commenting that sales were up compared to January last year. The report didn’t state by how much sales had grown year-on-year, but given that publisher Take-Two recently stated that GTA V had sold more copies in 2016 than in 2015, it seems that Rockstar’s juggernaut still has plenty of life left in it.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, however, experienced another decline this January, with sales down 41 per cent compared to Black Ops III’s performance in January 2016. Indeed, Black Ops III was just two places behind Infinite Warfare in January’s best-selling console games, claiming the No.5 spot. It’s not all bad news for Infinite Warfare, though, as its Modern Warfare bundle actually helped offset its shrinking January sales thanks to its higher average price.

The biggest surprise in the digital console games chart, however, is Ark: Survival Evolved, which charted at No.4. SuperData called it "an unusual standout on the triple-A-publisher-heavy top 10 console list," and said its rising popularity on the latest generation of platforms is what helped propel the title past other triple-A titles such as Battlefield 1 and Star Wars Battlefront.

Here’s the Top Ten best-selling digital console titles in full, for the period starting January 1st and ending January 31st:

1. FIFA 17
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
4. Ark: Survival Evolved
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
6. Battlefield 1
7. Star Wars Battlefront
8. Destiny
9. NBA 2K17
10. Madden NFL 17