For years now, it's felt like an all-digital future is inevitable — whether we like it or not. Game sales continue to skew increasingly towards digital, we've got publishers deciding against physical editions altogether, and we've even got retail boxes packing nothing but redeemable codes. The optics aren't great if you're an enthusiast of physical media, but all hope is not lost: you might still have a couple of console generations to enjoy before discs go extinct.
That's according to Circana's Mat Piscatella, who's spent his analytical career assessing and reporting on the industry's many ups and downs. Adding his take to an ongoing conversation around limited physical releases on Xbox, Piscatella writes: "Folks should probably just get used to this (no physical Xbox versions) across the market sooner rather than later."
Then, when PlayStation and Nintendo are mentioned, he adds: "Give PlayStation another gen, Nintendo another two". Clearly, Piscatella thinks that an all-digital market will become a reality at some point in the relatively near future-- and we're not about to argue with that, given his expertise.
Now, obviously, this is just a quickfire prediction on social media, but it adds to a very interesting conversation that's been rumbling on for generations.