The NPD Group's latest PC Games Digital Downloads report has revealed that legal downloads of full computer games hit 11.2 Million during the first half of 2010, exceeding that of traditional physical retail purchases (8.2 Million) for the first time and putting added bandwidth pressure on broadband ISPs.

Top 5 Frontline Digital Retailers Jan.-June 2010 (based on unit % share)
1. Steamgames.com
2. Direct2drive.com
3. EA.com
4. Worldofwarcraft.com
5. Blizzard.com

However, retail game sales continued to deliver a greater share of revenue at 57% versus 43% from digitally downloaded games. The NPD claims that this is partly because many retail games are sold at a higher price than digital downloads.

In our own personal experience, digital downloads through the most popular platform (Steamgames) tended to be more expensive than retail (e.g. Amazon). It is perhaps more likely that the added cost (bandwidth) of providing a full PC game for download, some of which can be 10-20GB (GigaBytes) in size, is having a greater negative impact on revenue than expected.

Steam Digital Download vs Amazon Retail [Free Delivery]
F1 2010 (PC)
Steam - £26.99 [note: 10% pre-order discount applied]
Retail - £25.49

Sid Meier's Civilization V (PC)
Steam - £29.99
Retail - £24.99

R.U.S.E (PC)
Steam - £29.99
Retail - £26.99

It is important to note that the NPD only references USA sales and does not include UK data, although we're likely to see similar behaviour this side of the pond too. The UKIE (formerly ELSPA) does have plans to launch an official UK chart, although those were only announced in August 2010 and it will take some months of private beta testing before that goes public.

We note that this news, while generally good, is also having an impact upon broadband ISPs too; especially those promoting "unlimited" access. Many UK consumers pay approximately £10-20 per month for their internet access, which is a shared model that relies on some customers using hardly any bandwidth while others use a lot.

Digital game downloads, be they for consoles or the PC, are often significantly larger than your average movie stream. A reasonable connection could quite happily complete a 20GB game download after just a few hours. Do just a couple of those each month, combined with normal levels of internet and video usage, and your ISPs economic model might get a headache.

Both Ofcom and the ASA are investigating these issues and working to encourage greater clarity about package restrictions among UK ISPs. However, if you do plan to download a lot of games, then it pays to pick a service that can cater for your needs. Others may restrict your speed, suspend your connection or potentially charge you anything from 50p to £5 per extra GB downloaded above any restrictions. Read the small print.