The numbers are in – and global digital game sales in December 2016 grew to $7.6 billion, up 10% on the previous holiday season.
According to market researcher SuperData Research, overall game downloads were up 21% with digital sales of console games in particular rising 16% to account for over $1 billion.
SuperData Research also observed the continuing decline of retail game sales.
When it comes to the US, retail game sales fell 16% during the month of December.
SuperData partially-attributed this retail downturn to a relatively weak and homogeneous holiday line-up from major games publishers.
They note Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare earned the No. 1 spot. However, analysts say that sales of the game were 23% lower than sales of last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
SuperData had previously forecast that the retail channel will slip 2.2% to $13.1 billion compared to the previous holidays season.
