Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Digital downloads accounted for 21.3 million PC game sales in 2009 according to market research company The NPD Group, making up 48 percent of the year's total; cheaper prices for those games meant that they only accounted for 36 percent of the sector's revenue.
NPD also named the top five digital retailers active in the 'frontline' and 'casual' segments. Frontline retailers are those websites that focus on more traditional games that can also be found in retail stores, while casual sites majored on bite-size diversions such as puzzles, hidden object games, or conversions of board games.
Top 5 Frontline Digital Retailers - 2009 (based on unit % share)
1. Steampowered.com
2. Direct2Drive.com
3. Blizzard.com
4. EA.com
5. WorldOfWarcraft.com
Top 5 Casual Digital Retailers - 2009 (based on unit % share)
1. BigFishGames.com
2. Pogo.com
3. GameHouse.com
4. iWin.com
5. RealArcade.com
Deeply discounted sales at Steam, Direct 2 Drive and EA help attract customers in the first place, while Blizzard and World Of Warcraft are both boosted by the huge popularity of the online role-playing game World of Warcraft.
Big Fish Games was founded by the same person that had previously launched Real Arcade for another company, while Pogo is now owned by Electronic Arts (EA.com). iWin's Jewel Quest has also found a home on the Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, and on mobile phones.
Just like Blizzard and World Of Warcraft, the sites ranked third and fifth in the Frontline chart, Real Arcade and Game House share the same owner - the two have now been merged.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments