The NPD Group has published its 2012 Online Gaming Report, and according to the firm’s findings, customers are becoming more accepting of digital purchases.

According to their statistics around one-third of people surveyed said they would rather buy a digital copy of a game instead of a physical one, this is a rise of 10 percent since last year. The data also showed that 40 percent of people who purchased a game digitally also bought at least one game in both physical and digital format.

“Gamers are growing more comfortable in acquiring content online, as we saw the preference for digital increase ten percentage points from last year,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan. “The proliferation of free games on mobile devices has reduced the barrier of entry for online gaming to zero, fueling an increase in acquisition.”

This data was collated over a three month period and featured 8,500 participants.

Do you prefer digital or physical?