U.S. Gamers Spent More Outside Of Stores Last Quarter

Video game consumers spent most of their money on games outside of traditional retail stores last quarter, a new report has revealed. According to The NPD Group, a total of $1.64 billion dollars was spent on video game software outside of traditional, new packaged goods. This incorporates used games, rentals, subscriptions, digital downloads, social network games, downloadable add-ons, and mobile games. By comparison, $1.3 billion was spent in retail channels on new video games. Counting hardware and accessories, total video game industry spend was $4.2 billion dollars. That figure represents an 11 percent decline over Q3 2010, according to the group, due mostly to the rough year physical game sales have seen in 2011. The full report, "U.S. Games Market Dynamics," is available through The NPD Group.