"Doom and gloom for social games" in March, says Superdata

The social games sector saw a significant and potentially foreboding dip in revenue last month, according to a new report from digital-focused analyst Superdata.

Games Industry reports on the research firm’s findings for the month of March 2015, which is summarized with the subtitle "Doom and gloom for social games as digital games total $1.01bn in March."

Indeed, total digital games revenue was up 2 per cent versus the same period in 2014, but it could have been better had social games not absorbed nearly a 10 per cent drop in revenue.

"The social games segment appears to be in a free fall…" the report states. "Despite new releases by Kabam, the enthusiasm for social games is waning in favor of games on tablets and smartphones."

It was the continued growth of the console digital market that ultimately helped push US sales into positive territory. US sales were up 20 per cent to $84m. Battlefield Hardline sold 425,000 units across digital storefronts worldwide in its first month, while Bloodborne sold 155,000 units less than two weeks out from launch.

"After the release of the beautiful but terribly short game The Order: 1886 proved somewhat of a disappointment, the March release of Bloodborne has the makings of a hit for Sony. The combined sell-through of over a million units just 12 days after release is a remarkable success."

Superdata collects its digital point-of-sale data from various developers, publishers and payment service providers.