Steam generates estimated $193 million in Q1
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:03 am
Total War: Shogun leads first quarter revenues, as Steam generates estimated $193 million in Q1
April 27th, 2011 - As per the Research & Analysis division of analyst firm Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC (FADE), Steam brought in just under $200 million USD in revenues through the 1st quarter of 2011, with Sega's Strategy game "Total War: Shogun" leading all titles in terms of gross revenues through March.
Revenues were generally flat from Q1 2010 as the release schedule this year has been building up to the release of Portal 2, which saw significant pre-order traffic through the end of March, and was already the 3rd best-selling title of the year through March. Multiple titles were offered on sale with significant discounts throughout Q1. FADE notes that most titles seeing price reductions of 65% or more realize more than 50,000 downloads during the reduction, which have led many developers to offer high quality titles on sale to consumers, with great success. Major new releases were the primary driver of PC digital sales during the 1st quarter, as eight of the top ten titles were released during the quarter, showing that new titles are providing notable contributions to revenue in 2011. Sales charts showed a large divergence in user preferences as strategy, shooters, and RPGs drove revenues.
Portal 2 To Drive Future Revenues
Given the size of the Portal community, FADE believes Portal 2 will be an integral part of advancing Steam's growth through the rest of 2011. "Valve's first release in well over a year has not only been well-received by the Steam community, but will be intergal to growing the Steam user base. We will see significant growth in Q2 as major new titles such as 'Brink' and 'The Witcher 2' launch in the wake of 'Portal 2'." said Benjmain Schlichter, Director of Research & Analysis at FADE. "Portal 2 is likely to see over 1 million sales via Steam by the end of April, given its pre-order numbers".
Top 10 Titles, by Gross Revenues for Q1 2011
Total War: Shogun (Sega) - 198,000 Units / $9.9 Million USD
Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision) - 170,000 Units / $9.7 Million USD
Portal 2 Pre-Order (Valve) - 155,000 Units / $7.0 Million USD
Homefront (THQ) - 130,000 Units / $6.5 Million USD
Dragon Age II (Electronic Arts) - 105,000 Units / $6.3 Million USD
Crysis 2 (Electronic Arts) - 94,000 Units / $5.6 Million USD
Rift (Trion Worlds) - 123,000 Units / $4.9 Million USD
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Retribution (THQ) - 155,000 Units / $4.6 Million USD
Magicka (Paradox Interactive) - 421,000 Units / $4.2 Million USD
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision) - 66,000 Units / $3.9 Million USD
About Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC
FADE is a strategic market research and consulting firm focused on electronic entertainment and the emerging download and mobile game markets. With very little information currently available in these markets, FADE allows smaller developers to investigate these new potential sources of revenue and make informed business decisions moving forward. Currently, FADE produces monthly and annual reports for Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, WiiWare & Virtual Console, and mobile markets including iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. For more information, please visit http://www.fadellc.com.