Originally Published: August 16, 2011, on EGMNOW.COM

New Survey Shows 1 out of 3 American Gamers Buy DLC

THE BUZZ: A new study of online purchasing behavior commissioned by PlaySpan, a Visa company, and undertaken by VGMarket, a research firm specializing in video game content testing, shows that the online marketplace for game add-ons is strong and is only likely to grow stronger in the coming years.

WHAT WE KNOW: The study reveals that 31% of gamers have bought digital content for their gaming needs in the past year and 57% of those people did it on a regular basis of at least once a month. The survey also showed that 72% of gamers said they are likely to spend the same amount of money, if not more, in 2011 than they did in 2010.

WHAT IT MEANS: Surveys like this show a clear movement by the gaming community into the online realm in terms of acquiring content and the industry has taken notice. Considered a drop in the bucket at the time of purchase compared to a full $60 game, you see how these online purchases can add up and may compel more developers to promise DLC for their games in the future. This might also mean less resources being put towards developing new games as it becomes more and more profitable simply to keep adding on to games that already exist. This could also compel developers and publishers to pave the way for more efficient ways of making full games digitally accessible and could be the beginning of the end for discs and retail distribution.