NPD: 360 has the digital edge over PS3

North American stats behemoth NPD has revealed that 18 per cent of Xbox 360 owners who subscribe to Microsoft’s Gold Membership regularly” download content – markedly higher than the 10 per cent of PS3 owners who do the same.

Membership of the Xbox Live Gold service is also on the up, increasing 24 per cent in the 12 months ending Q1 2009.

The total video game subscription market, which includes services such as Xbox Live and subscriptions to MMOs, grew by 18 per cent in the same period. At present, one in five gamers now subscribes to such a service.

NPD also estimates that 17 per cent of all PC games purchases were made digitally, too – a stat that many observers would claim to be far too low.