PS3 Still Top Seller in Australia, PS4 Edges Ahead of Xbox One
Australian games industry worth over AUD$2 billion in 2013, according to latest research.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia has today revealed that, according to newly-released data from NPD Group Australia, the PlayStation 3 was the number one selling home console in Australia in 2013 for the third year running.
Sony Australia also reports that, according to unit sales measured from the November launch to the week ending February 2, the PlayStation 4 has moved ahead of the Xbox One as the next generation console of choice "as stock became more readily available."
“It has been an enormous 12 months for PlayStation in Australia,” said Michael Ephraim, managing director at Sony Computer Entertainment Australia. “These results reflect not only the passion Australians have for the PlayStation brand overall, but also the strength of the individual platforms we have.”
The Australian Xbox One launch was the most successful console debut in the country’s history, more than doubling the previous record held by the Nintendo Wii. At the time, Sony stopped short of revealing specific sales for Australia; it’s now evident they had been eclipsed by the Xbox One.
While both next generation consoles are enjoying great success in Australia in 2014, research released by Australia’s Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) has noted revenue for the country’s games industry “held steady” in 2013, racking up $1.14 billion of ‘traditional retail’ sales as well as an estimated $899 million of digital sales.
[R]evenue for the country’s games industry “held steady” in 2013, racking up $1.14 billion of ‘traditional retail’ sales as well as an estimated $899 million of digital sales.
2012’s figure of $1.161 billion of ‘traditional retail’ sales represented a contraction of 23 per cent compared to the corresponding 2011 period but didn’t take into account surging online and digital revenue. 2013’s ‘traditional retail’ figures have been propped up by a 13 per cent increase in hardware sales after very strong launches for both the PS4 and Xbox One, combined with good sales for the 3DS and 2DS.
Research commissioned by the IGEA from technology analyst firm Telsyte indicates the Australian digital video games market is valued at $899 million based on digital game sales, downloads, subscriptions, and mobile games last year. This is an increase of nearly 50 per cent over 2012 and has led the IGEA to assert the true value of the industry to be over $2 billion.
“Traditional sales have remained steady across the industry. Despite concerns about retail, software sales recorded over $654 million dollars for 2013,” said IGEA CEO Ron Curry. “The data from NPD Group is encouraging and shows that brick and mortar retailers have maintained their fundamental role in providing hardware, software, digital content and merchandise to consumers. According to the Telsyte data, more consumers are in fact now purchasing their content digitally and overall we can see that the interactive games and entertainment industry is really thriving.”
Senior research manager for Telsyte Sam Yip said the growth in digital sales is largely driven by the popularity of mobile games; they accounted for nearly half of all digital games purchases.
“Consumers spent more than $452 million on mobile games in 2013, with 70 per cent of that on in-game, micro-transactions,” said Yip. “At this rate, mobile game revenue could exceed that for physical games within a couple of years.”
NPD and Telsyte’s research also found franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Battlefield, BioShock, Tomb Raider and Pokémon all improved their market share significantly over 2012, new IP The Last of Us cracked the top 10 best-selling titles of 2013, and Steam now makes up over half of all Australian digital games spending in the PC market.
