Worldwide digital games market: October 2017

Digital games revenue grows 15% worldwide in October. Players spent $8.5 billion across console, mobile and PC in October, up from $7.4 billion in the same month last year. Growth was underpinned by a 28% jump in premium PC thanks to Destiny 2’s successful BattleNet launch, and the continued blockbuster hit of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S Battlegrounds. Gains were also strong in mobile (19%) with the continued rise of major games like Honour of Kings.

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• PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds sells another 5 million units. PUBG had its biggest month ever on the back of a seemingly unstoppable hype train. But has it met its match in Fortnite
• Destiny 2 has a solid release on PC. Destiny 2’s much-anticipated Blizzard Battle.net PC launch proves very successful. High attach rates for deluxe editions drove the average selling price up.
• Super Mario Odyssey launches on Switch. Mario sold 191,000 digital units in October, making it the biggest digital launch on Switch to date. However, digital download rates continue to lag those found on the Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Single player games still have legs. While multiplayer-centric genres (FPS, MOBA, and Battle Royale) are in the spotlight, there is still room on the stage for single-player focused games. In October, South Park: The Fractured but Whole, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, and Assassin’s Creed: Origins collectively generated over $160M through digital full game sales. However, we don’t expect these games to have as much success in the long run, compared to the multiplayer genres, as it is generally harder to monetize through microtransactions in a single-player focused title.

Battle of the Battle Royales: PUBG vs Fortnite. While Fortnite has seen a higher out-of-the-gate active user base thanks to its F2P status, the game’s long-term success vs. its major and earlier-released rival is uncertain.

Epic is a veteran game development company and PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds’ first major—but certainly not last—competitor. Fortnite: Battle Royale’s MAU has grown larger than PUBG’s in the month of October across PC and console. Still, Fortnite’s total revenue is a fraction of PUBG’s due to the former being a free-to-play title compared to PUBG’s $30 price point. But Fortnite has a leg up on the additional content front, having already introduced cosmetic microtransactions through an in-game cash shop late in October. The challenge will be converting its higher user base into spenders.

December will be an important month for both games; PUBG will be releasing exclusively on XB1 on December 12th and will be leaving Steam Early Access on Steam in “late December” with a new map. Fortnite will, presumably, leverage their cash shop and introduce Christmas-themed cosmetics and will have to fight PUBG for user’s attention on XB1.

• Top 10 games by Platform:

PC:

1. League of Legends
2. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
3. Fantasy Westward Journey Online II
4. Destiny 2
5. Dungeon Fighter Online
6. Crossfire
7. World of Warcraft
8. World of Tanks
9. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
10. ROBLOX

Console:

1. FIFA 18
2. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
3. Destiny 2
4. Grand Theft Auto V
5. Assassin’s Creed Origins
6. NBA 2k18
7. Forza Motorsport 7
8. South Park: The Fractured But Whole
9. Madden NFL 18
10. Gran Tourismo Sport

Mobile:

1. Honour of Kings
2. Fantasy Westward Journey
3. Lineage M
4. Clash of Clans
5. Monster Strike
6. Lineage 2 Revolution
7. Fate/Grand Order
8. Clash Royale
9. Candy Crush Saga
10. King of Chaos

SuperData launches ESPORTS Scoreboard: LoL gets 215 M hours watched in August, PC top watching device

INTRODUCING: SuperData Esports Scoreboard  Ongoing measurement and insights on esports games, events, consumers SuperData's new gold-standard coverage of esports offers publishers, platforms, and brands crucial data on the global esports market Top games by viewership, active players, unique viewers, with country-specific data The esports market has finally hit the mainstream. Once only large in core Asian markets like Korea, esports have expanded worldwide and are now top of mind for every publisher, platform, and brand. As recognition of the importance of esports grows, the data and insights needed for strategizing become vital. Read more... Every month, the Esports Scoreboard offers:   Top esports games by viewership & hours watched with country breakouts   Monthly active players, top growing games, unique viewers    Recurring report of key metrics, major events, brand news, consumer insights     Learn more about the Esports Scoreboard Some recent insights from the Esports Scoreboard: Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) and shooter games dominated the esports audience in August. Among the 10 most-watched esports titles, two were MOBAs and four were shooters, garnering 273M and 237M viewers, respectively. MOBA will continue to reign through November thanks to upcoming tournaments like League of Legends World Championships. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) was the second most- watched title of August despite the lack of an established esports presence. The shooter only launched six months ago and has already surpassed 10M paid downloads. PUBG hosted its first esports event in August and its official Twitch channel saw 378K concurrent viewers, an all-time high for the game. 97% of U.S. esports viewers choose to watch competitions on either Amazon’s Twitch or YouTube. The market is difficult for new platforms to enter. The two main players have built up a wide range of video game content over the years, making them the go-to destinations for esports as well. Tweet Share Forward © SuperData Research 12 E 49th Street, New York, NY 10017.

REPORT: Hearthstone's amazing comeback; PUBG overtakes World of Warcraft

August digital market up 11% thanks to F2P MMO Global digital games market grows impressively in August thanks to free-to-play MMO, console, and mobile.  Football season heats up: Madden NFL 18 beats predecessor out of the gate.  PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds continues to dominate premium PC game sales, despite still being in Steam Early Access. PUBG is the number 1 premium PC game for the 3rd month in a row and has overtaken World of Warcraft in the total PC games rankings. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft reaches all-time high revenues due to their well-received and unique expansion, titled Knights of the Frozen Throne. The worldwide digital video games market grew 11% year-over-year in August to $7.9B. The premium PC segment shrank 10% year-over-year, despite PUBG’s breakout success, due to tough comparisons against No Man’s Sky release and Overwatch’s first event and new map last year. Social and pay-to-play MMO segments continue to decline at a rate of 4% and 25% respectively. Console and mobile grew 11% and 13%, respectively. The free-to-play MMO market was the big winner this month, growing 28% year-over-year, as more publishers and developers adopt this business model. Read more...

See the full analysis here

Free-to-Play drives U.S. digital growth. In the U.S., digital games revenue grew year-over-year. This growth was underpinned by a rise in free-to-play digital revenue. This more than offsets the decline in pay-to-play, which was down on a difficult comparison against World of Warcraft: Legion last year. PLAYERUNKNOWN's Battlegrounds sales accelerate in August. PUBG had another successful month, bringing total life-to-date sales close to 9 million units through August. Hearthstone hits all-time revenue peak with "Knights of the Frozen Throne" expansion. Blizzard’s CCG reached a new high this month. This marks a 15% increase over their previous peak. Overwatch PC monthly active users reach new highs due to successive updates. On the back of a string of updates that introduced a new character, two new game modes, and the return of the “Summer Games” event, Overwatch recorded its highest MAU yet. Madden NFL 18 sells over 220,000 digital units at launch. Sales were up compared to last year's launch month units for Madden NFL 17. We also estimate modest additional content growth on the back of new in-game DLC packs available this year.

Digital Console: Additional Content in Today's Market View Report: Virtual Reality Consumers and the Market  View