GTA 5 – the past month was the best for the game in two years!
The analytical group SuperData published last year’s digital game market results in December. Releases such as Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Clash of Clans, and Red Dead Redemption 2 did exceptionally well.
SuperData published the report with the digital distribution results on the world game market for December last year. This category, including the sales of the releases and micropayments and subscriptions, brought 9,8 billion dollars in revenue, which is 8% more than in the last month of 2018.
This is the highest December score in history. It’s been achieved despite the fall of 25% for consoles and 4% for PCs. The loss has been though repaid by the growth in revenue for mobile games, which equaled 28%.
The reason for such a high drop in console results is the Fortnite game’s interest. December 2018 was, in fact, the best-ever month for this game. Moreover, the very end of last year wasn’t as rich in big releases as the previous quarter of 2018.
The Rockstar studio has its reasons for satisfaction, too. The previous month for Grand Theft Auto V was the best in the last two years. Revenue mounted up to 84,7 billion dollars, and Christmas discounts helped a lot in reaching this result, as well as the premiere of The Diamond Casino Heist for GTA Online.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s Digital Sales Soar in December
Last December was good for Red Dead Redemption 2. The digital sales were over 1 million pieces, while it was 406 K for November. Such an increase was due to, among others, the premiere on Steam. The PC version had been released earlier on Epic Games Store and Rockstar Launcher, but Rockstar Games announced the Valve studio sale a month later. Hence, many game players waited until the project appeared on the preferred platform.
On the mobile market, the success of Clash of Clans is worth noticing. The product earned 158,2 million dollars in December. That was the best month in the game’s history, which is a significant achievement, considering that its debut was in 2012.
Impressive Micropayments Performance in Modern Warfare
The change of the series business model launched by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was successful. Instead of paid extras with maps and season passes, the game offered seasonal access through battle shootings and micropayments. The revenues in the last quarter of the previous year were higher by 4% than those achieved by Call of Duty: Black Ops III in the first three months after its premiere.
Micropayments in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare were worth 78,7 million dollars last year. This is an impressive result since the virtual store was only launched in December. For comparison, in the case of Black Ops III, players spent $ 92.9 million in the game for the first three months.
