The NPD Group Announces Fourth Quarter Consumer Spending on Video Game Content Outside of New Physical Retail Sales in U.S. and Key European Markets

It is important to note that this measure of the consumer spend on games content excludes physical retail sales

Leading market research company, The NPD Group, today announced the fourth quarter 2011 (Oct.-Dec.) consumer spend on gaming content across the United States and Europe's largest video game markets (UK, France and Germany) via all monetization methods outside of new physical retail sales. Those sales, which include used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games, reached a combined total of $3.33 billion (U.S. dollars).

At $2.04 billion, the United States captured the lion's share of fourth quarter sales, with UK, Germany and France generating a combined total of $1.29 billion (956MM Euros). Looking at sales by country, the UK generated close to $508 million, followed by Germany and France at $461 million and $320 million, respectively.

This information sources from NPD's expanding portfolio of global tracking research available through its Games Market Dynamics services, and addresses the demand for broader global insights and market comparisons using consistent measures and definitions across different geographies.

Utilizing its existing pan-European market research capabilities and established methodology, the market estimates can be harmonized with The NPD Group's U.S. tracking services, for insights into and across influential global markets.

"It's fascinating to see the nuances in consumer behavior across geographies," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "Clearly these other forms of content acquisition do not follow as consistent of a trend as we see with the established box product business in the U.S."

"Now that we've established our Europe based service covering the UK, France, and Germany, we can begin working directly with clients to help them dissect at deeper levels how the unique market drivers specific to each country can help them understand the increasingly global nature of the games industry," said Sam Naji, European industry analyst, The NPD Group.