Analyst: Gamers slowed their digital spending in February in preparation for Titanfall

The hit-driven gaming business is like the tides, and February — lacking in major releases — was low tide.

Spending on digital games reached $959 million in February, according to sales-tracking firm SuperData Research. That’s down 5 percent from January. SuperData is a company that collects data about the industry to inform publishers and developers about trends in consumer behavior. Its analyst, Joost van Dreunen, believes the decline is attributable to the upcoming release of Titanfall for Xbox One and PC. He thinks gamers were holding on to their cash in anticipation of the sci-fi shooter, which debuted earlier this month. Despite the month-over-month decline, digital spending was up 17 percent compared to the same period in 2013. This shows that more of the multibillion-dollar gaming industry is moving online.