Half of console owners buy DLC - Report

Just as the number of high-profile games adopting downloadable content schemes is increasing, so too is the percentage of gamers willing to take the jump into the digital age for extra content. According to a new report from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, the number of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners who have purchased add-ons in the last 12 months has exceeded the number who haven't.

In the firm's 2011 "Deconstructing DLC" survey, EEDAR found that 51 percent of respondents bought DLC for their games in the prior year, up from 40 percent in 2010 and 34 percent in 2009. According to EEDAR, the 51 percent figure amounts to more than 20 million North American gamers who have purchased add-ons.

EEDAR pegged this year's North American downloadable content haul at $875 million and said the segment should grow even larger thanks to greater broadband speeds and marketing. The company expects the North American market to top $1 billion in DLC purchases in 2012, with worldwide revenues approaching $2 billion.

As for the 49 percent of consumers who hadn't purchased DLC in the last 12 months, EEDAR reports they gave a variety of reasons for staying out of the market. Privacy concerns were the most common issue, cited by 47 percent of those who hadn't bought DLC in the preceding year. Other common complaints were the inability to return DLC (38 percent), the high cost of add-ons (32 percent), and the inability to demo DLC before committing to a purchase (24 percent). Roughly 24 percent also said they had enough free DLC to enjoy and didn't feel the need to invest in additional content.