Downloadable content sells more games?

By Spencer . November 14, 2007 . 11:39am

Got an e-mail about a study from the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) firm that claims it does. According to their study, “The research shows that publishers have the potential to nearly double their income on any given title through revenue generated by both purchasable and sponsored downloadable content.  Xbox 360 games offering downloadable content sell more by 129%; PlayStation 3 games sell 16% more.”

They don’t specify where they are getting these sales numbers from, but there could be another reason why games with downloadable content sell “more”. Is this strictly an Xbox 360 versus Playstation 3 study where they look at the sales of two versions of the same game? If this is the case then it could be a numbers issue where more people already own a 360 or prefer the Xbox 360 version for achievements.

“More” isn’t exactly defined either. Are they comparing mean/median sales data of games with downloadable content versus games that don’t have any? Since trailers are defined as downloadable content I’m guessing themes and gamer icons fall in the same category. That means nearly every Xbox 360 game has some kind of downloadable content and comparing those titles versus ones that don’t is like shooting fish in a barrel. The sales of say Gears of War versus a poker game with no downloadable content wouldn’t be fair at all.

However, the results are still interesting to glance at. I just thought they might need a little preface because correlation does not necessarily lead to causation.

See the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research’s study results past the break.

Downloadable Game Content (Not Including Movies/Music/TV Shows)

Seventh Generation games (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) with downloadable demos and trailers have a strong correlation with higher sales

On Average, Seventh Generation retail games with both a downloadable demo and trailer generate 69% more revenue than games without either

On Average, Seventh Generation retail games with a downloadable demo generate 62% more revenue than games without either a demo or a trailer

On Average, Seventh Generation retail games with a downloadable trailer generate 72% more revenue than games without either a demo or a trailer

For the new generation of consoles, 94% of available downloadable content is on the Xbox 360; 6% on the available content is on the PlayStation 3.  The Wii does not offer downloadable content

The total value of all Xbox 360 downloadable content is worth more than 40 times as much as the total value of all PlayStation 3 downloadable content

80% of the downloadable content on the PlayStation 3 is free; only 29% is free on Xbox 360

Average price of downloadable content is between $1.69 (Xbox 360) and $1.97 (PS3)

Downloadable Games

187 downloadable game titles are available on Console Storefronts; Wii has released 51% of these:

PS3 Prices range from $4.99 to $19.99, Median of $5.99, Average $6.17

Wii range from $1.00 – $10.00, Median of $6.00, Average $6.69

Xbox 360 range from $5 – $15, Median of $10, Average $7.53

100% of downloadable Wii games are re-releases from previous consoles such as the original Nintendo Entertainment System or Nintendo 64

Wii has far exceeded both PS3 and Xbox 360 in providing downloadable games

The Wii released 95 titles in its first 7 months

The PlayStation 3 released 29 Titles in its first 7 months 

The Xbox 360 released 21 Titles in its first 7 months

39% of downloadable games are from the Arcade genre, followed by 21% from the Action genre

94% of downloadable Arcade genre games are re-releases from previous systems

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