16% of US gamers have dropped physical games completely

A new report from NPD suggests that only a limited number of US gamers have made the decision to completely abandon physical games.

VG247 has word from NPD’s Exploring Digital Gaming report which claims that 16 per cent of US gamers say that they now buy all their games digitally. 36 per cent play downloaded games at some point.

When asked specifically about preferences for digital or physical, 30 per cent prefer physical, 25 per cent prefer digital and 45 per cent have no preference. 90 per cent of PC gamers have a preference for digital.

Most digital players, regardless of device, don’t plan their purchases,” NPD analyst Liam Callahan said. They purchase simply when they find something they like. But primary console players do have a greater tendency to purchase at or before the time of release relative to PC players.

As more consumers purchase the new consoles, we expect to see greater digital spending from digital console gamers as consumers indicated that purchasing these consoles will most likely increase their digital spending.”