It’s time for more data! Specifically, Superdata, because that’s the name of the game industry analysts behind a new report. Superdata have examined the global digital games market for May 2017, and among their many interesting findings is evidence of Overwatch’s importance to PC gaming.
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The year-on-year news for the game industry as a whole is positive, with software digital revenue up almost $1 billion (or 9%) compared to May 2016.
Unfortunately, most of that growth came from mobile, and there’s been a large decline of 30% in the premium PC market. Much of that is explained by Overwatch, which gave a huge boost to the PC when it launched in May last year.
Though it no longer has novelty on its side, Overwatch isn’t doing badly. It was never going to earn as much as its launch month, but its revenues in May were up compared to April. Indeed, May 2017 was its peak for revenues from additional content specifically, thanks to the Anniversary Event.
Other significant findings include:
- COD: Black Ops III made more money in May than its successor, Infinite Warfare, thanks to new DLC.
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds sold 791,000 copies in May, totalling four million since its Steam Early Access launch just three months ago.
The top ten earning games on PC globally were as follows (prepare to feel the weight of the Chinese market):
- League of Legends
- Crossfire
- Fantasy Westward Journey Online II
- Dungeon Fighter Online
- Dota 2
- World of Warcraft
- World of Tanks
- Overwatch
- New Westward Journey Online II
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Those charts reinforce the findings of Newzoo’s report of the other day, which highlighted the size of the Chinese market and its appetite for Western PC properties.
You can read more of Superdata’s report here.